Dead Space: Journey into Darkness
by EcoSeeker247
Summary: *Sequel to Dead Space: Forgotten Memories* He thought the nightmare was over. He thought he had finally escaped his personal demons. But when Timmy Stamford finds himself being hurled into Dead Space 3, he realizes that there are some things that can't be easily put to rest, and that now is the chance to take action...or lose himself forever. Rated T for violence and language.
1. Prologue: Revelations

All right! So, welcome to my official new story based on _Dead Space 3_! I've played through the whole game now and had a blast with it, and I can finally start writing this story!

Right after _Dead Space 2 _came out, I had started a story called "Dead Space: Journey into Darkness", an experimental post-_Dead Space 2 _story starring my OC, Timmy Stamford, along with Isaac and Ellie. Unfortunately, I ran out of ideas for that one, so I've decided to take it down and rewrite it to follow the true _Dead Space 3, _so if you were reading that story, ignore everything that happened there, as this will pick up where "Dead Space: Forgotten Memories" left off and wrap up my trilogy. However, I've downloaded and saved the old story right from fanfiction, just in case, since I no longer have the original chapters.

As for this story, my plan is to try and incorporate everything from the game, including moments only found in the co-op campaign and maybe some of the optional missions, too. Think of this story as being like an "enhanced single player campaign". The first chapter will be a prologue, and then the real story should kick in!

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this story! I've been having fun planning out how certain parts are gonna go, and I hope you guys like it, too! :D

**DISCLAIMER: **Only my OCs and plot ideas are mine. Everything else belongs to Visceral Games/EA.

**WARNING: **There will be _Dead Space 3 _spoilers throughout this story!

* * *

_**J**__**anuary 25**__**th**__**, 2011…**_

Either I was the most impatient guy on the planet, or this day was going way too slow for my liking.

I readjusted my position in my seat, resting a hand on my knee as I waited for the session to begin. My trusted therapist, Dr. Bridgette Anderson, repeatedly shuffled some papers on her desk, and after the umpteenth time, the rustling sound began to get on my nerves, making me clench my fists and curse my new sensitivity to small sounds. The room was uncomfortably hot, and I loosened my T-shirt collar to stop my shirt from sticking to my skin. I knew the day was cold, but did she have to have the heat practically on full blast?

And would that clock on her wall stop ticking so loudly?

"So," she began, finally looking up at me, "Timothy. You finally decided to show up."

I sighed and glanced up at the ceiling, where I spotted a spider crawling upside down on the beige surface. Used to be I was afraid of those eight-legged arachnids, but these days…it was like nothing scared me anymore.

"Yep," was all I said, shrugging.

Dr. Anderson glanced over her glasses at me. "And I understand that you've…regressed since our last session," she stated, "Missing a doctor's appointment today, and now this. This really isn't helping your case, you know."

"I know," I replied, "But I didn't mean for it to happen. I was just…dealing with the problem."

The therapist made it a point to stare at me. "Timothy," she said, "You wrecked an expensive game console earlier today. I don't think you were _dealing _with the problem in the ways that I showed you. I really thought we were making progress here."

I ran a hand through my curly brown hair and sighed, not knowing what to say to that. "So I relapsed," I quipped, "The first time since I last came to see you, which was almost a month ago. What's the big deal?"

Dr. Anderson shook her head. "The _big deal, _Timothy, is that if you keep up these little episodes, you're never going to get any better. And your uncaring attitude right now isn't helping matters, either."

It wasn't that I didn't care. Of course I cared. I just didn't see the point in really talking about anything. So I _had _been feeling depressed over the last year, but not for the reason everyone thought. Instead, everyone thought I was just stressed out with school and trying to find the right college, no matter what I said to try and prove otherwise. If I truly opened up to my therapist, she wouldn't believe me. Neither would my family.

"Why don't you tell me what's _really _on your mind?" she asked, picking up a pen, "You know, just _throw _your feelings out there?"

I almost burst out laughing. If it was really that easy to just "throw my feelings" out there, I would have, but she really had no idea about my situation. She only _thought _she did.

My ears honed in on the annoying ticking clock on the wall, and each time it sounded off, I felt a pulsing sensation in my stomach, where one of my biggest and most recent scars now resided. My battle scar, I liked to call it. There was one on my back, too, which led to this one, and I tried not to focus on the throbbing pain as I closed my eyes and remembered all the recent events that had brought me here to this very moment…

* * *

_ I didn't remember much of the time between Isaac Clarke removing the spear from my stomach and the moment where I finally woke up for good again, but I did remember that the engineer had managed to stop the Convergence Event while I had been fighting to stay alive. His actions had also allowed us to escape in a moment where we thought we were going to die: a last minute rescue mission in the form of our new friends, Ellie Langford and Alexandra Adams. _

_ To be honest, we hadn't expected them to come back to get us, but they had, and I knew we would forever be grateful to them for putting their lives on the line for us. That was how we now found ourselves in a gunship as we piloted away from the imploding Sprawl, and at the moment, I was resting myself on a long bench and closing my eyes, the pain from before reducing to a dull ache as I realized that without a place to land, I was still stuck in this game. I wasn't sure how long we had been traveling, but I knew we were all going to need medical attention as soon as possible. _

_My stomach growled, and I clutched the injury, wondering if Hans Tiedemann had managed to completely destroy my intestines after shooting me with a Javelin spear back on Titan Station. _

_ "Oh, no, is it hurting again?" _

_ I opened my eyes, swiveling my head to the right as I spotted Alex standing over me, blinking her green eyes as she bit her lower lip anxiously. I glanced at the gash underneath her left eye, a reminder of how she had nearly been blinded by Nolan Stross back on the Sprawl. _

_ "Don't worry about it," I assured her, smiling, "I'm okay." _

_ Alex frowned, staring from me to the injury and then back to me. "I hope so," she said, "You've been through a lot and you deserve to make a full recovery. All three of you do." She nodded at the rest of us as Isaac and Ellie continued to navigate the gunship through space. _

_ "You do, too," I reminded her, "You've been through a lot as well. Turning your back on everything you stood for…that took a lot of guts. And you seemed sincere about it, too." _

_ Alex sighed and bowed her head, looking down at the ground as she folded her hands. "Yeah, and look at where that got me," she mumbled, "Isaac doesn't trust me. Not that I blame him at all, but still." _

_ "Well, you did say a lot of things that really hurt both of us back at the Church." I tried in vain to sit up, only managing to prop myself up on my elbow. _

_ "You just need to prove that we can trust you again. I don't care how you do it, but it should be something really good. If we're all gonna be together during all this, then we should try and at least get along." Alex just glanced down at her hands and then looked up at me again a few seconds later. _

_ "Why are you so willing to give me a second chance, anyway?" she asked, "I figured you would be one of the last ones to be so accepting of me." _

_ I shrugged, thinking back to our brief kiss from a little while back. "I guess…I guess I'm just tired of feeling like I can't trust anyone," I told her, "I know almost everyone's tried to kill me and Isaac, but there has to be at least a few other good people out there, even if it takes a while to warm up to them. I mean, look at Ellie." _

_ Alex followed my gaze to where Isaac and Ellie were sitting now, with the former leaning his head on the latter's shoulder. "Yeah, she's been really good to you guys, hasn't she?" she whispered. _

_ I smiled. "She's one of the only people who stayed on our side during the whole mission. And I think it's really good for Isaac, too. You know, after everything he's been through…" _

_ We fell silent, Alex leaning on the edge of the bench as I returned to my original position, staring up at the ceiling of the gunship. I was surprised I had managed to survive for as long as I did, but I knew not to push my luck. I trusted that our friends would find some place we could hide until this whole mess died down. We didn't know when that would be, but we hoped it was soon. _

_ Suddenly, Ellie glanced over her shoulder briefly after setting the gunship to autopilot, and I took in the patch over where her right eye used to be. "How are you feeling, Timmy?" she asked. _

_ I just grinned and gave her the thumbs-up sign. "I'm okay," I assured her, "Still in pain, but I think I'll be all right. How about you guys?" _

_ "About the same," the pilot answered, "Isaac fell asleep up here a little while ago, though. His injuries have closed up for the most part, but he still needs help. We all do." _

_ "Have you found any place we can land yet?" Alex questioned. _

_ "I was getting some signals earlier," Ellie explained, pushing a few buttons on the panel in front of her, "So I pulled up the coordinates on here. According to this…we're close to a lunar colony." _

_ Both of us perked up, and I would have sat up in surprise if I hadn't been in so much pain. "You're kidding!" I gasped. _There's other colonies besides Titan Station? _I thought to myself. _

_ "Ellie, this is great!" Alex chimed in, "I just hope it's not affiliated with EarthGov or Unitology." _

_ "If it is, we know how to lay low," I said to her, "Isaac and I have had a lot of practice with that. I'm just sorry you and Ellie had to get dragged into all this." _

_ "We're all in this together now," Ellie replied, "There's no going back." She turned back to the panels and pressed a few more buttons. _

_ "According to the data I've pulled up," she continued, "It's called the New Horizons Lunar Colony, right on Earth's moon." _

_ "Earth's moon?" I echoed, "Wow, we made it back here quickly!" _

"_That we did," Ellie agreed, "We shocked out of Saturn's system while you were sleeping. I don't know how long this colony's been around, but it looks like the perfect place to stop and get help." _

_ Alex moved away from the bench, hurrying to the front of the gunship to peer out the window. At that moment, someone in the front groaned, and I propped myself up again as Isaac finally sat up straight, moving his head away from Ellie's shoulder as he massaged his own injured limb. _

And there's the big guy now, _I thought, resting my hand against the wall next to me to try and help myself stand up. More pain coursed through my stomach, but I ignored it as I finally managed to get myself on my feet. Using my surroundings as support, I hobbled my way over to where the other three were until I was standing directly behind the engineer. _

_ "Ugh, what happened?" Isaac groaned, rubbing some sleep out of his eyes, "Did I miss anything?"_

_ Ellie smiled as she pulled up another screen. "Look what I found," she announced, and Alex, Isaac, and I all gasped in awe. _

_ On the monitors were pictures of an expansive colony not unlike the Sprawl, which I realized was the New Horizons Lunar Colony the pilot had told us about a few minutes ago. Like Titan Station, there were massive skyscrapers, ships that were slowly cruising around the place, and high speed vehicles on what looked like a freeway. I even thought I spotted a train hurtling through the complex as well, and I squinted my eyes in time to catch Earth in the background. The whole sight was breathtaking, similar to when Isaac and I had had a beautiful close up of Saturn from Titan Station's Solar Array. _

_ "Holy shit," I whispered under my breath, "This looks even bigger than the Sprawl was!" _

_ "Got that right," Isaac muttered in agreement, "Think anyone will recognize us if we stop here?" _

_ "Doubt it," Ellie answered, "There's got to be at least a million people here. They can't all know who we are." _

_ "So how quickly do you think you can get us there?" I asked her. _

_ "I just have to find an optimal path and a dock, and we should be all right. Hang on, though. This may get a little bumpy." The gunship shook a little bit as she said this, and Alex tugged on my arm. _

_ "Come on," she whispered, "Let's go buckle in." She turned to leave, but instead, I glanced at the blood that had formed a clot on both Isaac's shoulder and left hand. _

_ "I know you hate it when I ask you this, Isaac," I said, "But how are you feeling?" _

_ Isaac leaned back in his seat, rubbing his temples this time. "I've been better," he cracked, "I haven't had any visions since we destroyed the Marker and left the Sprawl. Maybe…maybe it's all over for good now. Maybe you've been freed from the Marker's influence, too." _

_ "It's over," I assured him, "We all made it out alive, and that's what matters." _

_ "Barely," Isaac replied, "I mean, look at you. Look at Ellie! You guys weren't supposed to almost get killed like that!" _

_ "Isaac, it's not your fault-" Ellie insisted, but the engineer cut her off. _

_ "I insisted that you watch over Stross," he said to her, "And Timmy risked his life to go back to the Sprawl." _

_ "You didn't force me to go back," I spoke up, "I made that choice on my own. That was my responsibility." _

_ "Either way, we're still alive, and we're going to get help," Ellie told him, "The two of us are not holding anything against you." Isaac didn't say anything in response, refusing to look at both of us. _

_ "Hey," Ellie whispered, "It's going to be okay, Isaac. We're going to get through this. Together." She reached across the control panels to take his good hand in hers, and he responded by leaning his head on her shoulder again. _

"_Go get some rest, Timmy," Isaac told me, briefly glancing over his shoulder, "We've got it from here." _

"_Sure thing. Let us know when you're ready to land." I patted Isaac's good shoulder and then smiled at Ellie, who nodded in return, and with that, I turned and limped back over to where Alex was, resting my hand on the wall again to steady myself. _

_ "How is he?" she whispered. _

_ I ran a hand through my hair. "He'll be okay…I think. After everything that's happened to him, I know it'll take some time for him to get back on track. Well, all of us, really." _

* * *

_ It wasn't too long before Alex and I heard Ellie announce that she was going to land on the colony, and I reached for my seat belt buckle and strapped it across myself. Despite the fact that she only had one eye now, I still trusted Ellie's piloting skills. She hadn't let her accident stop her from helping us on the Sprawl, and judging by her character, she wasn't going to let it stop her here, either. _

_ Isaac hadn't said too much since waking up, and even though he had assured the rest of us he was fine, I began to wonder if he was really okay. Physically, I knew he'd be fine provided we got help in time, but emotionally and mentally…I wasn't sure. He had a habit of keeping his emotions bottled up and then finally lashing out if somebody pushed him too far, which I had learned the hard way back on the Sprawl. Now, I never tried forcing him to talk about what was on his mind unless he brought it up first. _

Maybe Ellie can get through to him better that I can, _I thought, folding my hands and looking down at the ground as I felt the gunship descend towards the colony. I could see how much Isaac had warmed up to the pilot during the course of our adventure on Titan Station, and I had grown to like her as well, seeing how she had helped the engineer in more ways than one and was just an overall nice person. Maybe he needed someone more like her: levelheaded. _

_ "Timmy?" _

_ I glanced up from the floor as Alex cleared her throat. _

_ "What do you think is gonna happen to us from here?" _

_ I glanced over at Isaac, who was gathering what little supplies we had as Ellie continued to put us closer to the dock. "We'll have to lay low, probably," I said, "Like we were saying before. Give ourselves enough time for EarthGov to hopefully forget about us, and then keep going from there." _

_ "I'm sure they have more important things to worry about. Like watching over all these colonies." _

_ I just chuckled quietly and shook my head. "Doubt it. Isaac's destroyed two Markers now, I'm an outsider who knows way more than I should, you double-crossed all of us, including EarthGov, and Ellie helped us get to the Government Sector. I'd say we're pretty big threats to them." _

_ Alex just sighed and buried her face in her hands. "I just wish I could undo everything I did to you and Isaac," she mumbled, "I know you said to come up with a way to show that I'm on your side, but I can't get the incident at the Church out of my head. It was horrible and never should have happened." _

_ "Then let's start over with a blank slate. Forget Unitology and forget what you did for now. This is a chance to start over from scratch. And Alex." _

_ She glanced up at me. _

_ "This time…just be yourself. Okay?" _

_ She smiled sadly. "Okay," she whispered, "I'll try. Thanks, Timmy. Thank you, but I really don't deserve your forgiveness." _

_ Before I could respond, the gunship suddenly lurched downwards, and I leaned over in my seat as the dock finally entered our line of sight. Ellie pulled a lever next to her and slowly descended into the hangar, everything going dark except for a couple of runway lights. I clutched the seat, willing myself not to throw up as we touched down on the surface and bounced a few times. I was not a fan of flying, and even though this was only a gunship, this was definitely no exception. _

_ After a while, the ship stopped bouncing, finally slowing to a complete stop about halfway down the runway. I felt myself jerk back in my seat, sighing as the harrowing trip was finally over. _

_ "Whew," Ellie sighed, wiping her forehead in relief, "We made it." _

_ Isaac unbuckled himself from his seat and turned around to face us. "How are you two holding up?" he asked. _

_ "We're okay," Alex replied, and the engineer only nodded before getting up to leave the gunship. _

_ "We've got a long way to go," she muttered, and I wrapped my arm around her shoulder for support after I got up from my seat. _

_ As soon as we stepped foot on the runway, however, I doubled over as I felt nauseous again, coughing as my stomach shifted and sent searing pain coursing through me. "Timmy?" Alex cried, but I ignored her as I clutched myself. Everything went blurry around me, and I felt that familiar sensation of falling under the influence of a sedative. This reminded me of when I had left the first Dead Space game, and I wondered if it was happening again. _

_ "Timmy, look at me!" Alex shouted, "Stay with me, all right?" _

_ "Come on!" I heard Ellie cry, "We've got to get to a hospital anyway! Grab him and let's go!" _

_ I glanced over at Alex as she pulled on my arm, letting me lean on her again as we jogged directly behind Isaac and Ellie. The further we traveled, however, the more tired I felt, and I eventually felt my limbs grow heavier as I knelt down to the ground, my vision and hearing fading in and out. _

_ "Damn it!" I heard someone yell above me, though I couldn't tell who it was, "Don't die on us now, Timmy!" _

_That was the moment everything went dark around me. _

* * *

_ I remembered the last time I had left the Dead Space universe, feeling like I was being dragged under by a sedative that I couldn't fight off. I didn't like the sensation of being in a dream where I was falling, my stomach rising up to my throat as I wondered when I was going to finally hit the ground. _

_ Eventually, I managed to slowly pry my eyes open, taking in the familiar feeling of carpet underneath me. The lights above me seemed brighter than usual, and I clamped a hand over my eyes to block it out and prevent myself from tearing up. _

_ "Timmy? Timmy!" _

_ Who was that calling my name so insistently? I groaned, rolling over on the carpet as I tried to sit up. There was something I recognized about it, and I suddenly remembered who it was and where I was, too. _

_ "Timmy, why are you lying on the floor like that? Are you okay?" _

_ At the familiar sound of my friend, Mandy's, voice, I moved my arm away from my face and repeatedly blinked as I took in her face after not seeing her for a long time. _

_ "Mandy?" I mumbled. _

_ "Yeah, it's me," she answered, tilting her head to the side, "What's up with you?" _

_ I glanced over to where my book bag and cell phone were situated, and I grabbed both as I leaped up from the ground. _

_ "Whoa, Timmy!" Mandy gasped, "What's going on? Where are you going?" _

_ "Sorry," I muttered apologetically, "But I just remembered I have to go. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Before she could say anything, I turned and bolted from the room, colliding with my other friend, Roger, in the process. _

_ "Hey, slow down, Timmy!" he cried, "Why are you leaving so soon? We haven't even started the game yet!" _

_ I stopped myself from scoffing at that last statement. "I've gotta go," I told him, "I'm sorry. I'll see you and Mandy at school tomorrow." I hoisted my book bag over my shoulder, not looking back as I hurried down the stairs and out the front door, hopping into my car and starting it so that I could get home. _

Damn it, _I thought as I cruised down the street, _Mom and Dad are gonna kill me! _I didn't want to think about how worried they were about me right now, and I felt bad I was letting them down. Though I loved my family, I almost dreaded going home, even though I didn't want to feel that way. Being stuck in the Dead Space universe was hellish enough, but being back in my own world where I was sure nobody would believe me didn't seem to be much better, either. _

_ I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and I hated it. _

_ Eventually, I turned onto my street, my heart hammering in my chest as my hands shook on the steering wheel. All the cars were in the driveway, which was an indicator that both my parents were home. _Deep breaths, Timmy, _I coaxed myself as I pulled in behind Dad's car, _You can do this. This is your family, for Christ's sake!

_ I moved slowly and deliberately, taking my sweet time turning the engine off and grabbing my bag out of the back. After that, I began heading up the walkway, taking my house keys out of a pocket in my bag and steadying my hand as I slowly unlocked the front door. _

_ It was almost like everyone in my family had ears like a deer or something; right after I pushed the door open, I caught the sound of someone pushing a chair back. "Timmy?" Dad called out from the kitchen, "Is that you?" _

_ "Oh, for God's sake, that better be him," Mom replied, slamming something down as I heard her get up from her chair and storm into the front room with my dad and brothers, Allen and David, in tow. _

_ "Timothy Robert Stamford!" Mom snapped, folding her arms, "It's about time you got in touch with us again! Do you have any idea how scared I was when you stopped answering your phone? Where have you been? Because it certainly wasn't at the appointment you were supposed to go to!" _

_ I just leaned against the door, taking in the frantic/angry expressions on everyone's faces as they waited for me to explain myself. I opened my mouth to answer, then closed it again, which in hindsight was probably a bad idea. _

_ "Answer your mother, Timothy!" Dad spoke up, making me and my brothers flinch. _

_ I gulped, but managed to find my voice again as I cleared my throat. "Look, I'm sorry," I apologized, "But there's a perfectly good reason for all this-" _

_ "Then what is it?" Dad asked. I didn't answer right away, wondering how I was going to explain myself. My hesitation in answering was only making my family even angrier, and I knew I had to think of something fast, or else they would blow a fuse at me. _

_ "Timmy!" my father yelled, and I clenched my fist, trying to ignore my furiously pounding heart. _

_ "No, Zach," Mom piped up, "Yelling at him won't do any good. I have a better idea." She faced me, folding her arms and giving me a stern expression. _

_ "Timothy," she growled, "You have exactly three minutes to go upstairs and put your book bag down. After that time is up, you're going to come back downstairs, we're all going to sit in the living room, and you're going to tell us everything. And I mean everything! Understand?" _

_ I didn't have to think twice about this; I turned and bolted up the stairs immediately, not wanting to waste what little time I had. As soon as I made it to the room I shared with Allen, I slammed the door shut and slid to the floor, fighting tears in my eyes as I buried my face in my hands. A sob rose in my throat, but I willed it to go away. _Don't cry, Timmy, _I told myself, _Don't cry, don't cry.

_ When I lifted my face up again, the first thing I noticed was the Playstation 3 sitting on top of the cable box, and I felt a wave of anger course through me. I hated that console, I hated videogames, and I especially hated how something I used to love now left me with bad memories. _

_ Tossing my bag aside, I marched over to the Playstation 3, grabbed the plug behind the dresser, and yanked it out of the socket, holding the console over my head. With a scream, I chucked it towards the mirror leading to the closet I shared with my brother, watching as it collided with it, making a loud, shattering noise as pieces of metal and glass flew everywhere, some hitting me in the face as I quickly shielded my eyes. _

_ "Timmy!" Allen shouted from downstairs, but I ignored him as I grabbed all the Playstation 3 games we had and ripped the jewel cases open, snapping the discs one by one and then throwing the fragments against the wall. For a few seconds, I surveyed the damage, stunned at the now destroyed Playstation 3 and the broken mirror, and I just took some deep breaths as I suddenly heard someone pound on the bedroom door. _

_ "Timmy!" Allen cried again, "Open the door!" _

_ I gripped one of the jewel cases in my hands, feeling my stomach sink as I realized the damage I had just caused in my anger. _Damn it, _I thought, _Damn it, what have I done?

_ "Timmy?" Mom yelled, banging on the door, "Timmy! Open this door right now!" _

_ "TIMMY!" Dad chimed in just as I heard David wailing at the top of his lungs out in the hallway. _

_ I didn't say anything in response, only hugging my knees to my chest as I sank to the floor again, surrounded by broken game discs and chunks of Playstation 3. "It's open," I replied quietly, and I looked up as my dad threw the door open and allowed the others to pour into the room. _

_ "Timmy," Dad repeated in a softer tone, surveying the damage, "What on Earth…?" _

_ "I'm sorry, Dad," I apologized, not looking at him, "All you guys. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry for everything…" _

_ And with that, I buried my face in my hands again. I refused to look at the others, finally feeling like a heavy weight was being lifted off me. _

* * *

I opened my eyes again as I returned to the present, staring across the desk at Dr. Anderson as she waited patiently. My family was outside in the waiting area after my mother had insisted I schedule an emergency session, and I thought back to what she had said about "throwing my feelings out there". The more I thought about what had happened to me, the more I realized…maybe it _was_ time to tell them everything after all. After today's debacle, they deserved to know the truth. And they were going to get it.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Anderson," I apologized, "But I still need a little more time. Can I schedule another appointment?"

"Certainly," the therapist replied, though I picked up on the impatience in her voice, "You have my number to call me if need be."

I nodded, though I hoped after today that coming back here wouldn't be necessary. I got up and quickly left the room, welcoming the blast of cool air in the hallway as I made my way back to the waiting room. Both my parents had their noses buried in books while Allen helped David play with some building blocks that were scattered around the floor. They looked up as soon as they noticed I had returned.

"How did it go?" Al asked nervously.

I sighed. "Same as always," I explained, "Not much progress, because this time, I realized a therapist isn't what I need. Can we just go home? I'm ready to talk now. About everything."

Mom and Dad sighed in relief, put their books away, and stood up, silently guiding the rest of us back to the family SUV. None of us spoke the whole way home, and I just sat in the back and twiddled my thumbs, wondering how the hell I was going to phrase everything in a believable manner. _I got sucked into the game _probably wasn't going to go over too well with my family. If I was going to pull this off, I was going to have to be creative.

Once we finally made it back to the house, I hurried upstairs to my room and grabbed my laptop, turning it on and quickly pulling up the _Dead Space _Wiki site. Satisfied, I hurried downstairs to the living room, where the others were already waiting. My heart beat frantically again. This was the moment they were either going to believe me…or think I was completely insane.

"Okay, Timmy," Mom started, sounding a lot calmer than she had hours ago, "You promised you would talk. Now talk. What has been going on with you for the last year? What could have possibly happened to make you behave like this? And why have you been shutting us out whenever we asked you about it?"

I took a deep breath, gripping the laptop as I walked over to them and set it on the coffee table, opening it and showing them the Wiki page. "_Dead Space_?" my dad asked, tilting his head to the side, "Wasn't that a game you bought last year?"

I sighed again, my body starting to shake now. "Yes, Dad," I confirmed, "That was a game I bought last year. Now, what I'm about to tell you may sound completely ridiculous or made up, but I promise you, I'm not lying. Before I do that, let me tell you a little bit about the series."

And with that, I proceeded to fill them in on all the events of _Dead Space 1 _and now _Dead Space 2_ as I clicked through various pages, showing them Isaac Clarke, Nicole Brennan, Ellie Langford, Challus Mercer, Nolan Stross, Hans Tiedemann, Zach Hammond, Kendra Daniels, Daina Le Guin, and Terrence Kyne. I explained the concept behind Unitology, pointing out the Marker and going into detail about the dreaded Convergence Event, followed by EarthGov and their role in the story. I didn't know how much time had gone by since I had started talking about _Dead Space, _but I told them everything I knew about it, watching as they just nodded and took the story in strides, confused as to why I was going into such detail about this.

Once I was finished, I watched their facial expressions, and Mom raised a hand to her chin as she frowned at the picture of Isaac that was on the screen. "You know quite a bit about these games," she commented, "A lot more in depth than the average gamer, it seems." She leaned back in her seat as Allen and David scooted closer to her.

"I can't help but wonder," she continued, "Timmy…is this series the reason you've been so upset this whole time?" Before I could answer, Dad moved to sit next to her as he considered the Wiki site.

"I've been wondering the same thing," he chimed in, "I remember it was almost right after you bought this game that you weren't acting like yourself."

"Was it something you saw while playing through all this that bothered you?" Mom asked.

I opened my mouth to answer again when Allen cut in this time. "But why would _this _specific game bother him?" he questioned, "We've played others like this one. Like _Resident Evil._ It's not the same, but there are similar ideas, and he wasn't upset by that. I think it's more than just getting a little spooked."

"You're not that far off, Al," I told him, "Believe me. This is where the crazy part comes in." I took another deep breath.

"You know how everyone's always saying that people get way too immersed in video games?" I asked, "How they can be bad for us sometimes? Well, what if someone was so into what they were playing that they could somehow _experience _the game in real time? Not through a controller and a screen, but actually _be _a part of the game with the characters?" Mom, Dad, and Allen all exchanged worried glances, and I hurriedly continued so that I wouldn't lose my nerve.

"I know it sounds crazy, but think about it. Al, you've read all those fanfictions about people getting pulled into their favorite game, right?"

Allen frowned in thought as he eventually nodded. "I have," he said, "But that was just fiction. Authors wanting to be alongside their favorite characters. From everything you've said so far, it sounds like you're suggesting that that could happen to someone in real life, but it doesn't make sense. Is there some kind of force that would make them enter the game? Is it good or evil? There's a lot that you have to consider."

"Well, say someone ended up going through _Dead Space _in real time," I replied, "I've told you about the Marker. It has the power to manipulate people into doing what it wants them to do. Hell, it tried to make Isaac Clarke kill himself just to complete the Convergence Event. What if somehow, it selected a person from our world and wanted to mess with him or her by sending them into the game? It's not that far out there, if you think about it. The Marker's capable of anything-"

"Timmy, Timmy, slow down," Dad piped up, holding a hand up, "All this talk about somehow being sent into the game…this may sound outlandish, and I may be completely wrong, but are you saying that this is what happened to you, by any chance?"

_Bingo! _I thought, suppressing a smile on my face. "Yeah," I confessed, "That's what I'm saying."

Silence. I waited with bated breath as Mom and Dad exchanged glances with Allen and David, and I wasn't sure if they believed me. Even _I_ thought it sounded ridiculous, and I had lived it!

"And this also happened with _Dead Space 2 _earlier today," I added, "Which is why I stopped answering the phone, Mom. I didn't mean to disconnect like that. Honestly." I glanced at my mother as she shook her head and folded her hands together, making my stomach sink lower every minute.

"I'm sorry," she finally spoke up, "But I'm really having a hard time believing all this. This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard! I think you've just been playing too many games and want to blame them for the way you are now. Well, you can't, Timmy. You're seventeen years old now. You have to start taking responsibility for the stress in your life instead of making up excuses."

_Ouch, _I thought, clutching my chest and not knowing what to say at first. I reminded myself that this type of reaction was to be expected, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

"But Brianna," Dad spoke up, "Think about it. If what he's told us is true, then that would explain those mysterious cuts he's been getting. He never told us how he got them, and he didn't say they were from anyone he knows here. Therefore, the only way he could have gotten them is from _Dead Space._"

Mom blinked furiously, widening her eyes in shock. "You mean you _believe _this nonsense?" she gasped.

"I don't know what to believe right now," Dad answered, "But Timmy's our son, and if there's one thing he's not, it's a liar. You know that. Why else would he have gone through the trouble of explaining _Dead Space _in great detail if that wasn't the reason all this happened?"

"You're forgetting that it also took him a _year _to tell us what's been bothering him!" Mom snapped in response, "Say all this game stuff is true. Why didn't he come clean about it sooner?"

"Because I was afraid of your reaction," I spoke up, clearing my throat as both my parents faced me, "I was afraid you wouldn't take it very well, just like you aren't now. This is exactly why I didn't want to say anything."

"Got that right I wouldn't take it very well!" Mom hissed.

"If it helps," Allen chimed in, "I noticed the scars on Timmy's arm right after he came downstairs from playing _Dead Space_."

Mom rounded on him. "And you didn't say anything to us?" she inquired.

"I thought Timmy would tell me what happened, but he never did. I tried asking a few times, but he wouldn't say anything to me, either."

"You guys want to know where all these markings came from?" I asked, "Here, I'll show you." With that, I reached down and pulled my T-shirt over my head, earning a gasp from everyone else as they took in the various scars all over my right arm, my hands, and the new one on my stomach from the _Sprawl._

"Whoa!" Allen gasped, "Timmy, your stomach-"

"I know," I interrupted him, "See that round mark right by where my stomach is? Hans Tiedemann impaled me with a spear. The cuts on my hand? Those were from when I got into a fight with Challus Mercer in his Necromorph form. The incisions on my arm? Challus Mercer again. He was trying to turn me into one of those Necromorphs I showed you earlier. The tissue's still there, but I have no idea what kind of effect it has here-"

"Stop it!" Mom suddenly yelled, slamming a fist on the couch and making the rest of us jump, "Just _stop it_! I'm sick of hearing these stories!"

"It's not a story, Mom!" I insisted, putting my shirt back on, "I know you think I'm making it up, but it's the truth! This is what happened to me last year, whether you wanna hear it or not!"

"Don't you take that tone with me, young man! I don't want to hear anymore!" Without saying another word, she got up and exited the living room in a huff, leaving me with everyone else as David started to cry. I felt bad for upsetting everyone like this, but at the same time, relief washed over me. The truth was out now. I no longer had to hide anything.

I turned away from my mother and faced Dad and Allen, who were just staring at me as if I was a Necromorph. To be honest, I was surprised at how well they seemed to be taking this revelation. Or maybe they were only pretending to take it well so that I wouldn't have another conniption.

"I shouldn't have said anything," I commented as I sat down where Mom had been, "It was stupid to actually talk about all this and expect things to go smoothly."

"Well, you have to admit it sounds bizarre," Dad said, "But I don't know…it seems like one of those 'truth is stranger than fiction' moments. It's just too much information for you to have just made up off the top of your head. And you showed us proof to try and back up your claims. So all that stuff really happened to you?"

I nodded, looking away from him. "I guess Mom won't speak to me now. She's basically shut me out."

"Give her some time, Timmy. This is shocking news for all of us. This is something so impossible that even _I _still can't wrap my head around it. It's gonna take some time for us to adjust to the idea, and you know your mother never likes to hear about people trying to hurt you or your brothers, fictional or not. Neither do I. I really wish you had told us about this sooner, since it's clear this has been bothering you for a while. We could have helped you. Whatever way we could."

"I'm sorry, Dad," I apologized in a quiet voice, "But I guess I was so worried about you guys thinking I was crazy or something. That's why I kept you all in the dark." I sighed, looking up at him as Allen and David crowded around me.

"Thanks," I thanked them, "You know, for just listening to me, even if you don't end up believing me. By the way, I'm sorry about the Playstation 3, the games, and the mirror, Al."

Allen sighed. "Don't worry about it. Really. I was more worried about you than the game console."

I smiled weakly. "I'll be okay. Just give me some time-"

"No," Dad cut in, pulling me and my brothers in for a hug, "We'll get through this _together_. Whether or not this game story is true, you're hurting right now, and we're going to make sure you're okay. Your mother may not say it now, but she wants you to be happy, too."

I returned the hug, holding my family close to me and feeling safer than I had in a long time. All I could do now was let time go by and see if everyone still believed me after this, but for now, I'd take any support I could get. Maybe revealing what had happened to me hadn't been so bad after all.

However, there was still a small part of me that remembered everything I had left behind in _Dead Space: _Isaac, Ellie, and…Alex. Oh God, Alex. I briefly wondered what was happening to me back in that world if I was here. I hoped I hadn't just pulled a crazy disappearing act on all of them.

_Guess I'll never find out, _I thought, _Not like there's gonna be another Dead Space game in the future. _

Oh, how wrong I would turn out to be.


	2. Chapter One: Broken and Reformed

Wow, thanks for the reviews, favorites, alerts, and overall support, guys! I really appreciate it! :D I'm looking forward to writing this story, and I hope you guys end up enjoying it, too! I've decided to do some things that are slightly different from the previous two stories, too, which you'll probably notice as you read through this.

With the new DLC, _Awakened_, coming out in a few days, I'm considering including the events from that in this story, depending on how that one ends up turning out. Either way, it's an idea I'm tossing around right now. :)

**DISCLAIMER: **Only my OCs and plot ideas are mine. Everything else belongs to Visceral Games/EA.

* * *

_**UCLA-Los Angeles, California-Present Day…**_

_I can't wait to put this down, _I thought as I balanced a pack of twenty-four water bottles on my knee, supporting it with my hand as I used my other hand to swipe my ID to get into my dorm room. The door clicked, and I pushed it open, sighing with relief as I finally set the pack on the table in front of me. I had done a lot of heavy lifting in the past, but those were always a bitch to carry.

"Timmy? Is that you?" I heard a voice call out from the bedroom.

"Yeah!" I replied, and soon enough, my roommate, Jordan, entered the main area, drinking a glass of milk as he widened his eyes at the water bottles.

"Jesus, T," he said, "Why didn't you tell me you had gone out to get one of those? I would have held the door open for you!"

"I've got it, but thanks," I assured him, grabbing a pair of scissors to cut the top open and place a few of the bottles in the MicroFridge we shared.

"Well, now that you're back," Jordan continued, "I just wanted to know if we're still on for our Saturday game run today. You know, you, me, and Chris?"

I shut the door to the fridge before replying, "Sure. I just have some computer science homework to finish first, and then we can go. What kind of games are you thinking of looking at?"

Jordan beamed as he grabbed a page he had printed off the internet and shoved it in my face. "Check it," he said, "I've been waiting for this for _two years_! I _love _this series and I know the new one's gonna be kickass!"

I took the paper from him, my smile steadily fading as I realized exactly what game he was so excited for. It was one I hadn't thought about in a while, and one I never thought I would revisit in any form. _Seriously? _I thought, _This has to be a joke._

"So," I said, "_Dead Space 3_? There's another one?"

Jordan snatched the paper out of my hands. "Yeah!" he cried excitedly, "You didn't know? It's been all over TV, man!"

I laughed.

"I'm serious," my roommate continued, "Isaac Clarke on an ice planet? Some new guy, John Carver? _Co-op game play? _Timmy, this is perfect!"

I just shook my head, reached for my computer science books, and opened them to the latest assignment. "Don't waste your money on that," I told him, "The whole series is overrated, in my opinion."

Jordan looked thunderstruck. "How can you say that? You haven't even played the games! In fact, you don't even touch the controller whenever the rest of the gang is here!"

I glanced up from my notebook and laughed again. "Hey, I like watching _you _guys kill each other on Xbox Live. Besides, I've given _Dead Space _a try before and I didn't like it."

"Well, at least it's a reason. Let me know when you're done with your homework and then we can go." I nodded, and Jordan retreated back into the bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

Once he was gone, I hovered over the codes I had printed out in class and scribbled the homework answers in my notebook, pausing every now and then to check the lecture notes and the textbook to see if I was correct. Although it was only Introduction to Computer Science II, I wanted to make sure I was doing all the problems right, since I only had a little bit of programming background. The window next to the TV was open, allowing a comfortable breeze to seep into the room and make me close my eyes, wishing I was outside in the sunlight and warm weather.

California. What a change of pace from New York!

"Hey, T," Jordan piped up from the bedroom as he appeared in the doorway, "I forgot to tell you before, but your phone rang while you were out. You must have left it here by accident."

"Oh!" I gasped, taking my cell phone from him, "I was wondering what happened to it. Thanks." My roommate nodded and then retreated to the bedroom again, and once he was gone, I looked down at the screen and saw a missed call and a voicemail from none other than my mother.

Sighing, I accessed my messages and held the phone up to my ear, my heart sinking as Mom's voice poured through the speaker.

"_Hi, Timmy. So…we haven't talked in a while, and I thought I'd call you instead. Your father says you spoke to him and your brothers yesterday, and I wanted to know how everything was going at UCLA. I just don't understand why you won't call me or text me or anything, and when you came home for winter break…it was like you didn't even want to look at me. None of this has been easy for me, either, and I think you should try and see my side of the situation. Anyway, whenever you get this message, call me back. Please. I love you." _The message ended, and I moved the phone away from my ear, stared at the screen, and then deleted the voicemail, returning to my homework as I thought about everything that had happened to me over the last two years. I just sighed at the fact that things had changed around the Stamford house, some for the better, and some for the worse. Mom hadn't been too thrilled with my decision to attend college on the other side of the country, and while my dad and brothers had been hesitant with it as well, they had ultimately decided that maybe it would be better if I went somewhere else for a while, on the condition that I call home at least once a day.

Putting my pencil down, I reached down and rolled up my sleeve, exposing my upper right arm where the Necromorph tissue still resided. Only my family and I knew what it really was; to everyone else, it passed itself off as a really bad heat rash, which I could easily write off as a result of spending too much time in the LA sunlight. It appeared to be in some sort of dormant state, so maybe it didn't have any sort of effect here. There were no Markers and no Necromorphs in this world, so I knew nothing would happen to me if I were to suddenly get killed, and it didn't bring me any pain like it had in _Dead Space_. That was only one adjustment my family had had to make.

Another was just accepting my wild story in the first place. After more weekly conversations that lasted an hour every Wednesday as part of my home therapy sessions, Dad, David, and Allen had eventually come to terms with it. Mom…not so much. While I had been trying to heal over the last two years, she had hardly spoken to me or looked at me, almost as if she didn't even want to be bothered. I had tried so hard to see it from her point of view, that my story was so out there that it was hard to believe, and I had tried to give her the benefit of the doubt, but it was tough when I had accidentally eavesdropped on one of her late night conversations with my dad.

"_Maybe you should just sit down and talk to him," Dad had said about a few days after my big confession, "He doesn't expect you to believe him, but he just wants you to listen." _

"_How can I when he's going on and on about somehow experiencing the game in real time?" Mom had replied harshly as I sat at the top of the staircase and listened to them banter back and forth, "Come on, Zach. You have to admit he sounded like he was losing his mind a few days ago." _

"_But what if he wasn't? What if all that is true? He showed us pages and videos that seemed to match up to what he was talking about. He was nervous the whole time, and it clearly took a lot of guts for him to speak to us in the first place. I think if we all just sit down and talk about this again-" _

"_No! I'm done, okay? I don't want to hear anymore about videogames." _

"_Brianna-" _

"_No!" Mom repeated, making me flinch, "I won't hear any of this crazy talk. What we probably need to do is send him back to Dr. Anderson. Maybe she can examine him and see if he's suffering from any illnesses we weren't aware of in the past." _

_It had taken me all my willpower not to scream when I realized what my mother had been trying to hint at. It was bad enough that EarthGov had initially tried to dismiss me and Isaac as being insane, and now that I was getting the same treatment in the real world… _

"_I really don't think he's ill," Dad insisted, "I'm no psychologist, but I think he would have shown signs long before this. The fact that all this happened so suddenly after buying one game is living proof of that. What we really need to do is just offer an ear if he needs to talk, and we need to be there for him."_

"_Do whatever you want, Zach. I won't have anything to do with it until Timothy comes up with a better explanation for all this." _

I never told my mother that I had heard that conversation, and I knew that was probably the reason she couldn't understand why I semi-fell out of contact with her after moving to Los Angeles. Maybe I should have said something earlier, but it was not knowing whether or not she would listen to me that had stopped me. Besides, Dad, Allen, and David's support had been more than enough to help steer me back to a somewhat normal life. I no longer cared about what Mom thought of all this.

I tried to remember what Dad had told me about Mom wanting me to be happy, but with all this, that was looking less and less likely. I instantly thought of Isaac and the falling out he had had with _his_ mother due to Unitology and felt my heart sink.

With that, I rolled down my sleeve and picked up my pencil again, finishing my assignment as I reflected on one of the very few good things that had come out of all this: _Dead Space _had helped me decide on what I wanted my major to be in college. Before my experience, I hadn't really been sure what I wanted to do once I left high school, but everything I had been through managed to pique my interest in electrical engineering. Seeing Isaac work with all sorts of contraptions and helping him fix various parts of the _Ishimura _and the _Sprawl _had both been major factors, and I had been genuinely interested any time he started explaining anything about engineering to me, including how some of his tools like the Plasma Cutter worked. Though I knew that sort of advanced technology didn't exist where I was from, that didn't stop me from deciding I wanted to go into the electrical engineering field all the same. During my healing process, I had channeled all my positive energy into my schoolwork, focusing on adding some computer science, robotics, and physics electives into my schedule, relieved that it ended up working in my favor at UCLA.

There was a lot I had to thank Isaac Clarke for, despite everything that had happened. Unknowingly getting me to start trying to plan out my future was one of them.

* * *

_**Later on that day…**_

"Let's do this!" Jordan cried, pumping his fist in the air as he, our friend Chris, and I drove through downtown Los Angeles to the game shop we always frequented.

"You're really excited about _Dead Space 3_, huh?" Chris asked while I just rolled down my window in the back seat and tilted my face towards the sun, "Is the series _that _good?"

"You bet it is," Jordan answered, "Timmy doesn't think so, though. Told me not to waste my money on it."

"Damn straight," I commented, "There are lots of games out there that are better than _Dead Space_."

I heard my roommate sigh wistfully as he briefly glanced down at his steering wheel. "Don't listen to him, Jordan," Chris said, patting his shoulder, "You get whatever game _you _want."

The three of us just fell silent, enjoying the drive through the city before finally finding a space to park in and entering the store. It was bigger than a lot of the ones I had visited back home, and I just glanced around at the shelves, taking in what seemed like every single game ever made in history.

"Welcome!" the man behind the counter greeted us, "Anything in particular you're looking for today?"

"Yeah!" Jordan cried excitedly, taking out the same piece of paper from before, "_Dead Space 3_! I couldn't preorder it, so I hope you still have copies of it for the Xbox!"

The salesclerk smiled as he reached underneath the cash register and pulled out a brand new copy of the game. "Oh, this is a popular game these days," he commented, "You've got good taste. I've already beaten it, and let me tell you: my mind was blown! The ending was definitely unexpected."

Jordan grinned from ear to ear. "Sounds great! I can't wait to play it!"

"See, Timmy?" Chris piped up, glancing at me, "The cashier enjoyed _Dead Space 3_. I think you need to lighten up a little bit."

I just waved a hand nonchalantly. "I rest my case."

"I'm just gonna have to see some ID before I ring it up," the salesclerk explained, and while Jordan took out his California driver's license, I caught a glimpse of a poster advertising _Dead Space 3_ with the tagline, _Take Down the Terror_.

I just shook my head and had to laugh. I had taken down enough terror with this series.

"I think Matt finally bought this game a few days ago," Jordan said as he used his gift card to take care of _Dead Space 3_ and then a little extra cash to pay the difference, "We should ask him if he wants to play co-op!"

"He lives and _breathes _co-op game play," Chris piped up, "He'll say yes for sure. We should hook our consoles up to the big screen TVs in the downstairs lounge so that we can play at the same time!"

"Let's invite Alyssa and Holly, too," Jordan suggested, accepting his receipt and his new game from the salesclerk, "So they can watch us try not to get killed. And speaking of girls…" My roommate faced me with another toothy grin.

"When are we gonna meet _your _girlfriend?"

I jumped as I set _Resident Evil 6 _back on the shelf and led the others back out to the car. "Umm…" I started, but didn't finish.

"Come on, Timmy," Chris spoke up, laughing as he climbed in the passenger's seat while Jordan began driving us back to campus, "You've been talking about her nonstop since we started college. Alex, right?"

My heart beat a little faster, my cheeks turning red at the sound of Alex's name, and I pictured her face in front of me as I replied, "Yeah, Alex. It's not that easy to get her to come out here. We're kind of trying the whole long distance thing, you know?"

Jordan smiled. "Look at your face!" he teased, glancing through the rearview mirror at me, "She must be a really great girl if you're acting like this."

I laughed, my face still burning as I answered, "Yeah, she's out of this world." _Literally, _I added silently to myself.

Although my friends didn't know about my adventures in _Dead Space_, I had eventually told them about Alex after they had asked me if there were any girls I was interested in at UCLA. Although I hadn't been around her in the longest time, I still thought about her every day, and the look on her face when I had passed out on the colony filled me with guilt. I didn't want to imagine how she had felt in that moment. I regretted not getting the chance to reform our relationship, and the thought made me sigh in sadness.

As soon as we returned to our dorm, we called up our friend, Matt, who agreed with the idea of bringing his Xbox to the lounge to set it up on one of the TVs while Jordan hooked his up to the other one. We eventually decided to meet up in a couple of hours, since Matt was out running some errands at the moment.

* * *

_**Hours later…**_

"I can't wait to start this game!" Jordan cried as he finished opening his new game, "I wonder who I wanna play as: Isaac or Carver?"

"Depends on who creates the game first, I guess," I said, "You guys can start without me. I just have to put a few things away in the room."

"You sure?"

I nodded. "Positive. Go ahead, have fun." Jordan frowned, but grabbed his Xbox anyway and exited the room, leaving me to my own devices. I just stood in front of the window, allowing the warm breeze to blow across my face as I glanced down at the rest of the campus. Rolling up my sleeve again, I examined the patch on my arm, poking it and wincing at how strange it felt, like I had lumps and gas bubbles underneath my skin. Fortunately, it had remained localized to just my upper arm this time, so I was convinced it was still harmless here, which was why I hadn't tried to mess with it all this time. _If it ain't broke, don't fix it, _I thought.

I took a few deep breaths, telling myself that I had healed over the last two years. I would go back down to the lounge and watch my friends play _Dead Space 3 _like it was any other average game. _You can do this, _I told myself, _Nothing's going to happen this time. _

Sighing, I closed the window and headed back downstairs a few minutes later, passing by a few other people in the hallways and staircases as they waved to me, with me returning the gesture. Eventually, I made it to my destination, recognizing Jordan and Matt's voices before I even set foot in the lounge.

"Dude!" I heard Matt yell as he laughed a little bit, "What happened this time?"

"Those Necromorphs swarmed me, okay?" Jordan replied with a chuckle, "Not my fault they won't die when I cut their limbs off!"

Another laugh echoed in the room, which I realized was Holly. "No offense, but you guys suck at this game," she said, "You can't even get past the prologue without getting killed!"

"That's not fair!" Matt piped up, "Jordan had to go pick the toughest difficulty available!"

"You should have gone with Casual Mode," Alyssa commented, "Especially when you've never played this game before."

"They'll never learn, Alyssa," Chris said to her, "Timmy could probably do a better job if only he'd give the game a chance."

I didn't know what was happening in the prologue they were playing, but I was just getting ready to round the corner when I heard Jordan gasp again.

"Oh, God, Tim!" he cried, "_Tim!_"

I perked up. Anything even close to sounding like my name always grabbed my attention, so I broke into a run, finally entering the lounge.

"What is it?" I asked, and my friends paused the game as they turned to stare at me.

"Hey, T!" Chris greeted, smiling, "You made it!"

"Of course I did," I replied, returning the grin, "I wanted to see you guys play."

"You seem out of breath," Holly noted, "Did you run all the way downstairs?"

Running a hand through my hair, I answered, "Just now I did. I heard you guys calling my name out. Is everything okay?"

Jordan widened his eyes before cracking up again. "Oh, no, everything's fine!" he assured me, "But since you're here, check this out: Timmy, meet Tim!"

He unpaused the game, and I watched with wide eyes as he and Matt continued to play through the prologue, wandering through the inside of a building after getting killed. I almost burst out laughing; although Timothy was a common name and one I had seen used for various characters in different stories, as well as people in real life, it was still surreal seeing this. _His name just happens to be Tim, _I thought, _How convenient._

"What do you think?" Alyssa asked, facing me, "Coincidence, no?"

I laughed out loud this time. "For sure," I replied, "So who's Tim?"

"A Private on this ice planet, from the looks of it," Chris answered, "And Matt's playing as his friend, Sam. They're…well, I'm not really sure what they're doing, but it's Marker and Necromorph related."

"Weren't you paying attention to the narration in the beginning?" Holly chided him, rolling her eyes.

"Apparently not," Jordan chimed in, finally clearing the part in the building as he guided his character up a ladder now.

"Hey," he continued, "I should let Timmy play as his namesake. That would be fucking awesome!"

"Jordan, behind you!" Matt cried, but the screen went dark as my roommate ended up getting Tim killed again when a Necromorph he had overlooked managed to hit him while he was on the ladder. Everyone started laughing, with a small smile forming on my face too as I tried to keep myself under control.

"Jesus," Jordan whispered under his breath, "Maybe we should take a breather for a bit."

"But you just started playing," I pointed out, gesturing to the loading screen.

"I know, but I don't think I can take this anymore. Anyone wanna go grab something to eat off campus?"

"How about we go get something and bring it back?" Alyssa suggested, "We can eat while you guys try and figure this game out."

"We can take my car," Chris said, raising his hand, "Jordan already drove today. So, who's in?"

A few minutes later, Chris, Alyssa, Holly, and I exited the dorm, hopping into Chris's car as we drove into town yet again. We would have just gone to the cafeteria, but every now and then, we liked to change up our diet and go elsewhere.

While we navigated our way through Los Angeles, I glanced out the window, thinking about Matt and Jordan's very vague description of the prologue. Who were those Privates, Tim and Sam? Why were they exploring that ice planet, and what role was it supposed to play in the overall storyline? Why wasn't Isaac the focus so far?

And why did I care so much when I was done with all that? Whatever the prologue was about was someone else's problem now, not mine.

While the others bantered back and forth over what food to bring back to the dorm, I glanced out the window…only to greet a horrifying sight as a van sped towards us, running the red light they were supposed to stop for! "Chris, look out!" I shouted.

My friend whipped his head over to where I was pointing and widened his eyes in shock. "Oh, _shit_!" he cursed as he slammed his fist on the horn and tried to swerve out of the way, but it was too late.

In the back, I heard Holly scream as the van slammed into the side of the car Alyssa and I were sitting on with a deafening _bang_, sending us spinning in at least two full circles and causing the tires to skid across the pavement. Through the window, I could see smoke kick up from the ground and a glimpse of tire tracks in the shape of a circle, and I felt like I was going to just fly out of the side of the vehicle. _Holy shit, _I thought, closing my eyes to try and block everything out.

I found myself gripping my seat as I tried to relax, hoping and praying this would all be over soon as the car continued to careen in circles across the street, finally slamming into another parked car on Chris and Holly's side.

Suddenly, the airbag in front of me deployed, hitting me in the chest and cushioning me as my arm scraped some broken glass and the now heavily dented door. The seat belt dug into my shoulder, and I could feel the burn as I tried to move it. _Ugh, _I thought, feeling stiff all over.

"Timmy?" I heard Chris croak from next to me, "Alyssa? Holly? You guys okay?"

Everything was growing darker around me, and the last thing I caught before I fainted was murmuring from the back seat.

* * *

_I wish I had called my mom after all, _was all I could think as I continued to feel like I was being dragged further into the darkness. My whole body ached as if I was reliving the incident when the Tormentor had tossed me and Isaac around space like rag dolls. My stomach felt like it had been ripped open again by another one of Tiedemann's spears, and my upper right arm throbbed. I expected my side to hurt from where the van had crashed into us, but this pain was unbearable.

Oh, God. What was happening to Chris, Alyssa, and Holly? Had they been hurt as badly as I had? Or worse?

No. I wasn't going to be pessimistic. We weren't dead. My heart beat furiously, the pulsing sound reaching my ears just as another unfamiliar sound came into focus: a beeping noise not unlike the various machines in the hospital.

Wait a minute. We were taken to the hospital already? That was the fastest response from an ambulance that I'd ever seen!

I groaned in my sleep, turning on my side as I suddenly took in the beeping, which was getting louder every second.

"Hey, Doc!" a woman shouted, "Doc, get over here! I'm getting signs of life from this bed!"

So I was alive? That was good to hear! _Now what about the others? _I thought, trying to open my eyes, which was pretty tough right now. Any movement I made sent a wave of pain soaring through my head.

"Timmy," the same person addressed me, "Timmy, can you hear me?"

I nodded slightly, being careful not to put myself through anymore stress.

"Can you open your eyes?"

I licked my lips, which had somehow gone dry during this whole ordeal, and clapping a hand against my eyelids, I finally managed to force them open in time to see a nurse hovering over me, worriedly checking my vitals as I regained myself. Pristine white walls surrounded me, and I spotted distant lights from other buildings through a window to my left. The sky was dark, which was odd given that the accident had occurred in pure daylight.

"Where…where are the others?" I mumbled under my breath.

"Right outside in the waiting room," the nurse explained patiently, "Would you like to see them?"

"Yes, please. Thank you." She nodded and disappeared, leaving me to glance down at my right wrist, which had a white band attached to it. Now that I thought about it, the band looked a little bit _too _advanced for this time, with holographic images of my name, height, weight, and picture, getting a strange feeling in my gut as I sat up a little straighter in bed.

It was then that I decided to take a look outside again, and suddenly, I noticed something I had overlooked when I first woke up.

The skyscrapers outside looked very familiar the longer I stared at them, and in the distance was a sight that I hadn't been expecting.

_Wait a minute, _I thought, _That looks like…like Earth! So the "sky" must not really be the sky, but- _

"Timmy!" a very familiar voice cried.

I tore my gaze away from the window, taking in the face at the door with what I was sure was a look of shock on my face. All this, coupled with the astonishing view outside the window, only confirmed my suspicions.

_Holy shit, _I thought, _This is the New Horizons Lunar Colony! _

_I'm back in Dead Space! _

* * *

"_Alex_!" I gasped as Alex barreled into the room and threw her arms around me, pressing her lips to mine as I returned both the hug and the kiss. Even though I had moved on with my life for the last two years, I had still missed her and hoped we would somehow get the chance to start over.

I took in her appearance, her brown hair tied back in a high ponytail, her green eyes brighter than they had been in a long time, her white tank top, jeans, and sneakers. I noticed the gash underneath her left eye was gone for the most part, only leaving a pale line in its place.

"It's good to see you again!" I cried once we broke apart for some air, "I see they fixed underneath your eye, too. It looks good!"

"Thanks!" she replied, fanning her now bright red face as she tucked a loose lock of hair behind her ear, "We didn't know when you were going to wake up, but I stopped by to visit every day while you were sleeping."

"Every day?" I echoed, "How long…how long was I out for?"

"About a month," Alex explained, reaching for a jacket and throwing it on over herself, "Isaac and Ellie have stopped by, too. They're here now if you wanna see them."

"Sure. Bring 'em in!" Alex nodded, smiling as she hurried out of the room again, and I collapsed back on my pillows, sighing as the full weight of everything came crashing down on me.

I was surprised I hadn't been unconscious for longer than a month, given how long I had been away from this universe, but then I reminded myself that stranger things had happened to me. I just wondered why I was back all of a sudden and what had happened during the month I was out.

Alex would have to fill me in later.

"Timmy!"

"Ellie!" I cried as Ellie burst into the room next, running over to hug me just like Alex had.

"It's good to see you're all right," the pilot commented, pulling away to smile at me. It was in that moment that I noticed something different about her.

"You too, Ellie," I replied, grinning back at her, "You got your eye back?"

As soon as I mentioned it, Ellie raised a hand to her right eye, and upon closer inspection, I noticed it was slightly smaller and a different color as well: green instead of the original blue. "We were able to afford a prosthetic eye with some of the credits you and Isaac collected on the _Sprawl_, so as soon as we bought it, I came here to have it implanted. They were able to calibrate it to have the same vision as in my regular eye, and it works like a charm. Like I never lost my eye in the first place…" I nodded, thinking about how bad Isaac had felt because of the incident with Stross.

"Guess Isaac figures this is his way of owing me an eye," she continued.

I sighed, running a hand over my clean white sheets. "I'm sorry for what happened with Stross, Ellie," I apologized, "We didn't know he was going to snap the way he did."

Ellie shook her head. "It's fine, really," she insisted, "Isaac's been apologizing, too, even though I told him it wasn't either of your faults."

"Give him time," Alex spoke up, "I guess he just has to deal with everything however he can. I'm sure he'll come around."

_And speak of the devil, _I thought as I heard more footsteps approaching the room, revealing none other than Isaac Clarke himself, who was dressed in regular clothes instead of some kind of suit or straitjacket. This was the first time I had seen him in jeans, a T-shirt, sneakers, and a leather jacket, and I knew it would take some time to get used to.

"Hey, Isaac!" I greeted, smiling as I raised my hand in the air to wave at him.

"Good to see you're okay, Timmy," he replied as we shook hands, "You scared us when you fainted like that last month." While we did that, I felt the bandage that was covering the palm of his left hand, and I was glad to see his injuries had been taken care of, too, for the most part.

"I'm sorry," I apologized to him, "I just didn't know how much I had really been hurt. How bad was I?"

"You almost bled out again," Isaac explained, "And parts of your intestines and stomach were infected from them going untreated for so long, so those parts were taken out. You can still eat normally, but you'll have to watch how much you take in at a time."

I glanced over at the IV I was hooked up to that was transferring fluids into my system and then at my arm where the Necromorph tissue resided. "Oh yeah," Alex said, "We didn't know what you wanted to do about your arm. We told the doctors here the gist about the situation, and they decided to give you small doses of growth suppressant drugs to keep it in check."

"The doctors here are trustworthy?" I asked.

"For the most part," Ellie answered, "We mostly kept to ourselves while we looked around for help, but we were told there was nothing to worry about. The colony's kept Unitology and EarthGov out for a long time, but we've still been careful with who we talk to. We didn't go into detail about your infection, like Alex said."

"It hasn't really done anything to me lately, though," I said, flexing my fingers, "I mean, it was painful when Mercer first infected me and then when I later reinfected myself, but other than that, it's kind of just been there. I think it only works if I'm dead, honestly. If the Necromorphs can only infect dead bodies, I don't see how just plain old tissue wouldn't work the same way."

"You still need to be careful, though," Isaac warned me, reaching over to take Ellie's hand in his, "You shouldn't take any chances with something like this, even though this whole mess is over. Right, Ellie?"

For a second, I could have sworn I saw the corners of Ellie's mouth turn until her lips were pursed in a tight line, but the expression disappeared just as quickly. "Of course," she said, "Anyway, Timmy, that's what's happened over the last month. Maybe if you're feeling up to it, you can finally leave this hospital. I'm sure you want to get out of here and rest."

"I'll see if I can ask them," I promised her, "Say, where are you guys living now, anyway?"

"Earthrise Apartments," Alex reported, moving to sit on the edge of the bed, "Not too far from here. The building is kind of grungy, but it was all we could afford. Isaac and Ellie rented an apartment with the rest of their credits from Titan Station, and I used some of my own money I found from the brief time I was with EarthGov to rent one for us."

* * *

_**Later on…**_

"Well, here it is," Ellie announced as the four of us approached a fence covered in graffiti, "Home sweet home."

_Alex was right, _I thought, wrinkling my nose at the odor wafting from some overflowing dumpsters. Fortunately, the hospital had deemed me well enough to leave, so that was how we found ourselves heading back to the apartment building. The whole property looked so dingy, with trash littering the ground, fragments of smashed beer bottles under my feet, more graffiti covering the walls, and the distant sound of dogs growling and people screaming and cursing at the top of their lungs.

"It's pretty gross, huh?" Alex commented sheepishly, carefully sidestepping a wad of napkins covered in what looked like a mix of ketchup and mustard.

"As long as we have a roof over our heads and are all together, I don't care where we are," I said to her.

"If EarthGov is actively hunting for us, I don't think they'd ever think to look here," Isaac stated, "It doesn't seem like the other tenants like them too much."

"A lot of people on this colony don't," Ellie added, "Still, we were pretty lucky to find apartments we could afford."

"What floor are you and Isaac on?" I asked her.

"Right on the first floor. And you and Alex are on the second floor."

_And speak of the devil, _I thought as we passed through the door, wandering through the hallway until we arrived at the first apartment we saw.

"Well, this is where we go," Isaac announced, gesturing to the door, "You already know this, Alex, but just to let Timmy know, rent's due to the landlord on the first of every month, and with the way things are now, we're going to have to get jobs. Ellie and I have been looking around, so you two will have to do the same."

"So we're going to be settling down for a bit?" I asked. I didn't mind that idea; after fighting our way through Necromorphs and other formidable enemies, we needed the rest.

"For now," Ellie said, smiling at all of us, and like before with the pilot, I could have sworn I saw Isaac's mouth twist into a slight frown at her words.

"Come on, Timmy," Alex piped up, taking my hand in hers, "I wanna show you the apartment."

I nodded at her and then waved to the others. "We'll catch you two later, okay?"

"All right," Isaac replied, "If you need anything, you know where to find us."

Right as we began heading towards the elevator around the corner, I glanced over my shoulder as I watched Isaac wrap his arm around Ellie's shoulder, smiling at her as he guided her back into their own apartment. _Hmm, _I thought, raising a hand to my chin during the short ride up to the second floor. Like the rest of the complex so far, the elevator was also filthy, but after the horrific things I had seen on the _Ishimura _and the _Sprawl_, I knew I would prefer looking at a few overflowing dumpsters over hallways covered in blood and Necromorph limbs any time.

"So you really used all your money to get an apartment for us?" I asked, breaking the short silence, "I mean, I figured we'd probably get a place of our own, but I wish I had been able to somehow chip in a little bit. If you want me to pay you back once I get more money, I will."

Alex sighed and faced me as we disembarked on the second floor. "Don't worry about it," she answered, "I've still got enough left to cover basic needs, like food and toiletries. I've only had to pay rent once so far, and I've been job hunting, too. I figured I'd wait for you to wake up before we _really _started getting settled in." She eventually opened the door to our apartment, and we stepped inside as she flipped a nearby switch, causing an overhead light to flicker before finally lighting up the room.

"Well, this is it," she announced, chuckling a little bit, "Our humble abode. I checked the pipes, sinks, faucets, shower, and electricity already and everything seems to be working okay."

The apartment wasn't big, but not in an uncomfortable way. There was a square bathroom with just a toilet, sink, and shower, a kitchen area across from that, and a larger room with one bed smack dab in the middle. There was no television or any curtains, but I realized that with more money, we could buy those things later. I headed over to the window and tested the blinds, making sure they weren't broken.

"Considering our situation," I began, "This ain't half bad. We could fix it up nicer later, but for now, this is fine."

"You should see Isaac and Ellie's. Theirs feels even more cramped than this one, even though they're a floor below us! They don't seem to mind it, though."

That brought me back to my suspicions about them from a few minutes ago. "Speaking of Isaac and Ellie," I said, "Are they dating now, by any chance?"

Alex moved to stand next to me as I opened the blinds again to overlook the rest of the colony. "I don't know for sure," she explained, "But it seems like it. Last month, I noticed they seemed to grow a lot closer when they were shopping for Ellie's new eye. It was the first time I had ever seen Isaac Clarke smile."

I had to smile at that. Having known the engineer from since this whole crisis started back on the _Ishimura_, I knew how hard it was to get any sort of positive emotion out of him after everything we had been through. Maybe now, he would finally be able to heal and carry on with his life, like I had in my own world. If anybody deserved to have a little bit of peace, even if for a short time, it was Isaac Clarke.

"Well, hopefully, this all blows over soon_,_" I stated, wrapping my arm around Alex's shoulder, "Whatever happens from here on out, we have each other, and this is a chance to try and live a somewhat normal life." No matter what happened, and no matter how long I was stuck in the _Dead Space _universe, I refused to live each day paranoid that EarthGov was going to track us down. Granted, I was going to be careful of who I spoke to here other than Alex, Isaac, and Ellie, but still.

Right now, even though I was still worried about Chris, Alyssa, and Holly in the aftermath of the car accident, I knew there was nothing I could do about it right now. I was going to have to accept that I wasn't going anywhere for the time being, which only left one question eating away at me.

What did this place have in store for us this time?


	3. Chapter Two: Polarized

All right! Here we go with the next part of _Journey into Darkness! _This chapter took a lot longer to write than I thought it would, so I apologize for the long gap in updating. I wrote and rewrote this chapter over and over again, so I hope it came out okay. A lot of what you'll read in this chapter is speculation on my part, since the game didn't really give a concrete timeline of the events leading up to the beginning of the game. I know there was a three year gap between DS2 and DS3 (with a two year gap in the real world), so I wanted to try and explore that a little bit. After this chapter, I should be starting the events of _Dead Space 3_. Thank you again to everyone who's been reading, favoriting, alerting, and reviewing this story! I really appreciate it! :D

**Guest Review Corner:**

**Guest (who left a review on 3/11/13)- **Thanks for your review! I know I didn't really go into detail with the Prologue involving Tim Caufman and Sam Ackerman, but don't worry. Without giving too much away, there's a reason I didn't let Timmy see too much of the Prologue. ;)

**DISCLAIMER: **Only my OCs, plot ideas, and locations named in this chapter are mine. Everything else belongs to Visceral Games/EA.

_Italics- _Third person POV

* * *

_**Luna Corporation-One year later…**_

If there was one thing I was looking forward to other than writing new codes, it was lunchtime.

The cafeteria of the Luna Corporation for Engineering and Transport Building reminded me of the one in the hospital on Titan Station, and I sighed as I clutched my tray and quickly scanned the room, searching for the table I usually sat at. _Jackpot, _I thought as I spotted Isaac sitting a few tables away from the counter, glancing down at his own tray, which contained food that was vastly different from mine. While his consisted of a meal he had put together at home, mine was mostly made up of soup, crackers, and a small piece of chicken on the side.

As soon as he realized I was here, Isaac glanced up as I sat across from him. "Cafeteria food again?" the engineer asked.

I smiled. "If it'll help me get part of my old appetite back, I'll take it." With that, I cut a small piece of chicken off the side, dipped it in the soup, and finally took a bite out of it. I made sure to take my time chewing it, remembering an incident from a few months ago when I had ended up vomiting into the toilet after trying to eat a normal-sized meal. It turned out that Isaac had been right about portion control, though I had secretly hoped he wouldn't be. I loved to eat and it was upsetting to know that Tiedemann had taken that away from me. Even in my own world, I had had to be careful not to gorge myself on food.

Considering what _could _have happened to me, though, this was a minor price to pay.

"I think I'll start bringing my own lunch from now on," I declared, turning my attention to the soup next.

"I've been telling you that for months," Isaac said, "Especially since you need to take it easy."

I glanced up after downing some of the warm soup. "I know I can be hard-headed sometimes," I replied, "But I've been working on it. Alex has been helping me out with that."

The engineer raised his hand to his chin in thought. "How are things with you and Alex? She's been treating you right?"

I knew what he was referring to, and I felt a pang in my chest as I thought about the events of the _Sprawl _all over again. "Yeah," I answered, "Yeah, she has. It hasn't been easy, but we're making progress. Later on, once I'm finished for the day, I'm heading over to the elementary school to see her."

Isaac tilted his head to the side as he took in my words. "You have a pretty big heart and the patience of a saint to be able to trust her again after all that," he commented.

"I think she really does feel bad about what happened at the Church. In the beginning, I wasn't sure, but now that some time's gone by, I think she's changed. I saw the look on her face when she was forced to reveal herself. She looked upset, and I don't think she was faking it either. Why else would she have come back to help us?"

"I just want you to be careful," Isaac insisted, "Remember how you were always trying to look out for me back on the _Sprawl_?"

I took a small sip of water, remembering how my attempts to keep his sanity in check for him had nearly alienated him at one point. "Of course," I responded, "But you don't have to worry about me, Isaac. Everything's okay now. And speaking of relationships, how are things going with you and Ellie?"

Just like when I had first woken up again, I watched as a small smile crept its way onto Isaac's face. "Good," he answered, "I'm getting my paycheck today, so after I get out of here, I'm taking her out to dinner, since I think we've both had enough of eating in every night. God knows I haven't done something that…well, that _normal_ in a long time…"

I just frowned in sympathy, being able to relate to the struggle with easing my way back into a normal life. "Hey," I quipped, "If anyone deserves some time off from all this craziness for a little while, it's you."

Isaac sighed and wiped his forehead with a gloved hand. "I'm just glad to be settling down with Ellie now. No more Necromorphs, no more Markers, no more being locked in a mental hospital, no drugs, no experiments, and no straitjackets." With that, he glanced down at the watch built into his RIG and sighed.

"Well, I better get going. I'm supposed to be back in the control room in a few minutes."

I nodded. "Okay. And if I don't see you later, have fun with Ellie!" Isaac smiled, waved, and then about-faced to leave, pocketing the container he had carried his food in as he disappeared around the corner. I continued to sit at the table alone, picking away at the rest of my food as I tried not to think about the damage to my digestive system. Instead, I focused on Isaac's attitude towards Ellie and our situation, and I was glad that things were working out between them. I knew it probably wasn't easy entering a new relationship after everything that had happened with Nicole, but it was a step to letting go of the past.

In fact, all of us were coping with what had happened in our own little ways. It was lucky that Isaac, Ellie, and I had managed to find jobs at Luna Corporation-Isaac as an engineer and Ellie as a pilot. Since I wasn't that far in my education at UCLA yet, all I had applied for was a job as a computer specialist, which I had fortunately gotten while Alex landed a job as a teacher's assistant at the Milky Way Elementary School. Alex and I had never had real jobs before, so this was a new and exciting leg in our adventure while all four of us worked just to keep our minds off the _Sprawl _incident. It was tough trying to keep the memories at bay, but giving ourselves something to do, along with my healing process in my own world, were definitely helping factors.

I still had a little time to kill before returning to my shift, so I cleared away my tray and decided to take a stroll around the building, passing by other coworkers I saw in passing and waving to them. Fortunately, nobody had asked _too _many questions about our backgrounds, so we decided it was safe to work here.

About ten minutes later, I spotted Ellie entering the hallway, carrying a rather large attaché case and piloting gear, and she seemed to be in a hurry from the way she was speed walking. "Ellie!" I called out, waving to her as she turned around.

"Oh, hey, Timmy!" she greeted, smiling, "Are you on break now?"

"Yeah, but it's almost over. Are you? I don't usually see you around here at this time."

"I don't have to make any new deliveries right now, so I've been running some extra errands on my spare time."

"Errands?" I echoed, raising an eyebrow, "What kind of errands?"

Ellie glanced around quickly, almost as if she didn't want anyone else overhearing our conversation, before stepping closer to me. "I can't talk about it right now," she explained, "But I will say this: after this past year, I think I'm finally getting somewhere!"

_Now _I was curious. Ellie hadn't mentioned anything about this to me or Alex in the past, and it made me wonder what she was up to even more. _This past year? _I thought, _What's she been doing that's so top secret? _"Sounds intriguing," I commented, "Does Isaac know about this? Whatever it is?"

Ellie shook her head, pushing some hair out of her eyes. "He knows I've been working on something, but I haven't told him what it is yet. We're going out to dinner later tonight, so I think I'll bring it up with him then. In a quieter environment than our apartment. You know how that is."

I laughed in response. "Believe me, I'm with you two hundred percent on that one."

Ellie grinned. "Well, I should let you go so that you can get back to your shift. I'll see you around, okay?"

"Sure thing, Ellie. Enjoy dinner later!" She nodded, and I watched as she turned and left, carrying the attaché case as she adjusted one of her shoulder straps carrying her piloting gear. With that, I headed down a side hallway, but not before watching as she quickly glanced around and pulled a mobile device out of her pocket.

This left me to mull over the fact that she had been working on something extremely confidential that not even Isaac completely knew about. All this time, I figured she was okay with going into hiding and not worrying about EarthGov or the Church, yet I couldn't help but remember that slightly annoyed look on her face last year when I had first woken up.

_Isaac seems pretty happy with settling down, _I thought, getting a weird feeling in my stomach, _But is Ellie? _

* * *

Once I was finished working for the day, I packed up my belongings and left the building, making my way over to Milky Way Elementary School not too far from the hospital I had woken up in. Eventually, I made it, pressing a button on the side of the door in front of me that let me enter the school, allowing me to make my way over to the After School Program after signing in and obtaining a Visitor's Pass from the front desk, since the staff knew me well at this point. Before I even entered the room, I was able to make out the sound of little kids talking and laughing, and I thought about how different this setup was from the elementary school Isaac and I had passed through on Titan Station.

As soon as I rounded the corner, I saw exactly what was going on: a group of seven-year-olds crowded around Alex as she sat on a stool, an easel situated in front of her as she painted on the piece of paper attached to it. Her smock was covered in all sorts of colors, her hair pulled back in a braid, and I couldn't help but smile at the image. She looked so carefree, happy, and completely in her element, and it was a nice change of pace given our circumstances.

"Miss Adams?" one of the girls asked, taking her place next to my girlfriend, "What are you painting?"

Alex paused to dip her brush into a bucket of blue paint, proceeding to create a blue sky over what looked like a fork in the road. "You know our nearby planet, Earth?" she asked, "A long time ago, the people that lived there used to travel on roads to go from place to place."

"_Wow,_" all the kids whispered in genuine awe. From the doorway, I was now grinning from ear to ear.

"Why does the road look like that?" a boy questioned next, pointing to the fact that the two roads seemed to branch off.

Alex sighed as she contemplated the thought-provoking question. "There are often stories in paintings," she answered, "This one is showing a choice."

"Choice?" the girl echoed, "What kind of choice?"

"Any choice," Alex explained patiently, "Whichever road you choose is up to you."

"But we're just kids!" the boy exclaimed, "We don't have a lot of choices yet!"

Alex smiled and ruffled his hair. "There's always a choice, Mike," she said, "Your parents have probably told you that before. You kids have your whole lives ahead of you, but whatever you decide to do, do it well. Remember, you're not stuck in one place for good." She exhaled again, putting the finishing touches on the sky before adding a large yellow sun in the top left-hand corner of the page.

"Now, who wants snacks?" she inquired.

All the kids raised their hands, and with that, Alex got up and began handing out one apple, one cookie, and one juice box to each kid. She stepped back as the students devoured their treats and then returned to the stool, picked up her brush, and continued to work on her latest piece of art. I entered the room, walking over to her and wrapping my arms around her.

"Choices, huh?" I asked, studying the painting in front of us.

"Yep," Alex answered proudly, "The kids were asking me about this painting, so I thought I'd tell them. I just want them to know that they always have options, no matter what. I didn't have much of that growing up, and I don't want them making the same mistakes I made." She added another layer of yellow paint to the sun.

"They're still young," I said to her, "They have plenty of time before they have to start worrying about what's going on out there." I gestured to just beyond the window, where we spotted Earth in the distance.

"I know," Alex conceded, "But still." She dipped her brush in the paint again, adjusting the drawstrings on her smock.

"I like this painting, though," I complimented, "You're really good at this, Alex."

She glanced up at me and beamed, blushing a little bit. "Thanks," she replied, "It's something I've always wanted to try, but never got a chance to. I never realized just how much life has to offer, and I wanna try it all."

I frowned, thinking about how terribly restrictive her life must have been when she was in the Church's care. She never talked about it, so I didn't bring it up, but I could only imagine that Daina must have kept an extremely tight leash on her. To not even be allowed to have hobbies that weren't Unitology-related…it was no wonder she didn't miss the Church at all. So far, she had tried her hand at learning musical instruments and writing stories before finally settling on painting for the time being.

"Well, you're free now," I assured her, "Free to be yourself and free to do whatever _you _want to do. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Not the Church. Not EarthGov. Not anybody."

Alex looked up at me. "Well, I have _you _to thank for that, Timmy. So, thank you. For everything."

I just smiled and winked at her in response, and the two of us fell silent for a minute, staring at Alex's painting as we listened to the kids eat their snacks and talk amongst themselves. Their relaxed attitude put me at ease, making me think of how Isaac was the same way these days.

And with that, my thoughts about my conversations with both him and Ellie from earlier today popped up in my head again. "Hey, Alex?" I spoke up, breaking the silence.

"Yeah?"

"Are you okay with our situation? You know, with settling down?"

Alex glanced up at me, raising her eyebrows. "Of course," she answered, "I know we've been in hiding, but this is the first semblance of freedom I've had since Daina took me in. Why?"

I shrugged, taking in the branching roads in her painting. "No reason. I just wanted to know."

She turned back to the easel, a knowing gaze crossing her face. "You've been getting weird vibes from Isaac and Ellie, too, haven't you?" she guessed.

I nodded. "I have. I don't know what it is, but I don't think the two of them are on the same wavelength about this like we are."

Alex started cleaning her paintbrushes, taking off her smock as she said, "I wouldn't worry about it too much, honestly. You and I have had our minor disagreements every now and then, so it's only normal that this might be one of theirs, whether they know it or not. Whatever it is, they'll work it out. They always do."

* * *

_**8:30 PM…**_

_"Welcome to Bella Venezia," an automated female voice began as a holographic menu popped up in front of Isaac and Ellie, "Can I start you off with something to drink? How about the house special: Prosecco?" _

_ "Uhh, yeah, that sounds good for me," Isaac answered, "Ellie?" _

_ "One for me too, please," the pilot said, "I've been wanting to try that." The menu flipped over to another screen, allowing the two of them to quickly scan through the choices and decide what they wanted. Even though most of the New Horizons Lunar Colony was slightly déclassé, Bella Venezia was one of the fancier restaurants in the vicinity, and Isaac would make sure he and Ellie were able to enjoy the surprisingly clean environment compared to their apartment. Anything that made the pilot happy made him happy in turn. _

_ Isaac selected the dish he wanted for dinner and then sat back, watching Ellie as she ran her finger across the screen. He sighed as he thought about how beautiful she looked tonight, her hair wrapped up in a bun and a sleeveless, orange dress that complemented her light brown skin. He also noticed that she wasn't as quick to cover her right eye whenever they were out in public anymore; for the most part, nobody asked why one eye was green while the other was blue, and Ellie herself had grown used to having an artificial eye that it almost felt natural now. What made his heart buoy even more was the fact that she had forgiven him for the Stross incident. Although Timmy had accepted some of the responsibility for helping to throw the scientist in Ellie's care, Isaac knew he was the main culprit. It was heart-warming to see that Ellie didn't blame him in the slightest, even strengthening their already budding friendship by going back to Sprawl to rescue him. It had been so long since anyone else had shown concern for him, even with all the problems he had, and it made him love Ellie even more than he already did. _

_ Not for the first time, Isaac Clarke felt like the luckiest man in the universe. _

_ "I remember visiting the Italian section of the Pan European Sector on Earth," Isaac spoke up as they waited for their drinks, "In my days with the Merchant Marines. On one of our days off, we took a side trip to Venice long before it was destroyed during the Global Warming Epidemic." _

_ Ellie smiled, resting her cheek in her hand as she traced her finger on the table. "You never told me you went to Venice," she replied, "I've seen pictures of it and always wanted to go there, but never got the chance to. Did you actually get to ride on a gondola?" _

_ "Not at first. But I was able to rope some of the others into joining me. I was always that one guy who liked to take risks." _

_ Ellie smirked and tapped him playfully on his hand. "And now I know why you told me you're always full of bad ideas," she teased, making Isaac laugh, a sound she had grown deliciously accustomed to over the last year. It wasn't often that he expressed positive emotions like this, but when he did, it never failed to make her melt. It was nice seeing this change in Isaac, and to her, he was even more handsome because of it than he already was. _

_ Suddenly, a compartment opened next to them, revealing two full glasses of Prosecco, which they accepted, being careful not to spill any on the table. "To us," Isaac declared, holding his glass up in a toast, "To not having to worry about EarthGov, Unitology, or Markers anymore. To finally being able to rest and live like normal people again." _

_ "To us," Ellie echoed, clicking her glass against her boyfriend's and taking a sip. _

_ "So tell me more about your Italian excursion. I want to picture everything in my head." _

_ While Isaac continued to regale her with more details about Venice, the pilot couldn't help but be fascinated by it all. Having lived on the Sprawl her whole life, she had only been granted views of Saturn, making deliveries around Titan Station, and even entering zero gravity areas and vacuums on rare occasions. It was also interesting hearing about the engineer from his days before the incidents on Aegis VII and the Ishimura, and before he had been so badly affected by the Marker. Despite all that had happened to him, though, he had managed to somewhat hold onto his sanity, but Ellie had to admit that she was still worried about him sometimes. _

_Even now, although Isaac seemed genuinely happy, she took note of the slight bags underneath his eyes and knew that his sleeping patterns had been off. Sometimes, she had even heard him mumbling in his sleep, but no matter how many times she had woken him up and tried to get him to talk about what was on his mind, he still kept his mouth shut. She knew that it wasn't because he didn't trust her; unlike Timmy, Isaac just wasn't very vocal about his thoughts and feelings. Eventually, he was able to calm down and get back to sleep, but he still never talked about what he was going through. She was starting to get the feeling that he hadn't moved on quite as much as he had professed to, and that he was actually trying to hide from his personal demons instead. _

_ "And that's it for my story," the engineer concluded a few minutes later, bringing Ellie back to reality, "Maybe one day, if the city's ever rebuilt again, we can go. Just you and me. How does that sound?" _

_ "Sounds wonderful," Ellie replied, smiling, "I'd like that. The first thing we'll do is go on a gondola." _

_Isaac chuckled. "I'll make a note of that." _

_Eventually, the two of them had to sit up straight again after leaning in towards each other as the same compartment from before opened and set their dinner plates on the table. _

_ From his end, Isaac just closed his eyes as he took in the pleasant aroma from his plate, reflecting on the fact that he hadn't eaten a decent meal in a long time. He eventually dug into his chicken parmesan with gusto, a comfortable silence falling over the table as the two of them enjoyed their dinner. Another grin crossed his face as he watched Ellie twirl some spaghetti on her fork before taking a bite. She seemed to be lost in thought, so once they were halfway through the meal, he took a sip of Prosecco and cleared his throat. _

_ "Ellie?" he asked, "What are you thinking about?" _

_ Ellie wiped her mouth on the napkin she had placed on her lap and glanced up at her boyfriend as she decided now was the time to tell him what was really on her mind after their toast. She wasn't sure how he would take it, but she decided to forge ahead anyway while they were in a peaceful state of mind. _

_ "Isaac," she started, folding her hands in her lap, "I've been thinking. About something you said a little while ago when we got our drinks." _

_ "Like what?" the engineer asked, cutting another piece of chicken. _

_ "When you said we didn't have to worry about EarthGov, Unitology, and the Markers anymore. Now, I know things have been pretty quiet for the last year, and we've been able to settle down and stop living in fear, but I was just wondering…have you ever thought of the possibility that maybe…this crisis isn't over?" _

_ Isaac's hands froze mid-cut, and he glanced up at his girlfriend as he processed her question. A chill ran down his spine, and he took a deep breath. "Not really," he answered, "We would have heard by now if something was happening, right?" _

_ "Right!" Ellie echoed, "But has the thought ever crossed your mind? That's all I want to know." _

_ All of a sudden, Isaac felt his heart beat a little faster and a small sweat broke out on his forehead. "On and off," he admitted, "But I don't think it's anything to worry about. I destroyed the Marker on the Sprawl. You, Timmy, Alex, and I are safe now. It's over." _

_ Ellie swallowed some more of the Italian sparkling white wine as she reached for her purse. "I guess now is the time to tell you about those errands I was running for a while," she said, taking out a mobile device and pressing a few buttons. _

_ "After we officially settled in last year, I thought things had ended for good after the Sprawl, too. But then I got started thinking: what about all the other colonies out there? The colony on Europa near Jupiter, for example. Are they aware of what happened on Aegis VII, the Ishimura, and the Sprawl? Even this colony now." Isaac didn't say a word, only gripping his glass to quell his nerves as his girlfriend continued to speak. _

_ "So that's when I decided to start looking into the matter. And after many months of false leads and wrong turns, this is what I found." She held the mobile device out to him, showing him pictures of Europa, which revealed the shape of a Marker by its famed subsurface ocean. _

_ "Do you know what this means, Isaac?" she continued, "The Markers on Aegis VII and Titan Station weren't the only ones! EarthGov's built more of them all over the galaxy! They must have made copies of the codes somehow and were able to replicate the Titan Station Marker." _

_ Suddenly, for the first time in a long time, Isaac felt sick to the stomach. He looked away from the picture of Europa as he tried to process everything Ellie was telling him. He didn't know how to react to this as he glanced down at his chicken parmesan, though it didn't look nearly as appetizing anymore. _

_ "Do…do Timmy and Alex know about this?" he eventually asked. _

_ Ellie shook her head. "Not yet. I'm going to tell them tomorrow, but I wanted to tell you first, and I wanted to make sure I had all my facts straight before I did. But this is big news, Isaac! And since you're the only one who really knows these Markers like the back of your hand, I thought you should know about this right away." _

_ Isaac's stomach sank again, and he hoped Ellie wouldn't pick up on his slightly deflating mood. Sometimes, he wished that he wasn't the one to have to carry the burden of having all the secrets to creating and destroying Markers. Sure, Nolan Stross had been alongside him throughout his ordeal, but the scientist's increasing dementia and eventual loss of control may have tarnished whatever codes he carried. Then there was Timmy, who, despite having been heavily involved in all this since the Ishimura, didn't seem to suffer from the Marker's effects in the same way he had. Since he hadn't been one of EarthGov's guinea pigs back on Titan Station, there was no way to tell just how much information he had stored in his brain. _

_ Which basically left Isaac as humanity's last hope for survival, if Ellie's words were anything to go by. _

"_Look," Ellie continued, reaching across the table to take Isaac's hand in hers, "I know this is a lot to process, but I just thought it was something you should know about and start giving some thought to. I know these past couple of years have been rough for you, and I can tell you're still bothered by what happened on the Sprawl, but I thought maybe by taking up this research with me that it might help you get some closure once and for all." _

_ "Closure? I've already moved past it, Ellie. I may not always say what's on my mind, but trust me: just having you around is more than enough to help me sleep at night." He laced his fingers in hers, giving her a small smile as he traced his thumb on her palm. _

_ "So you're not mad that I've been doing this research for the last year?" Ellie questioned. _

_ Isaac continued to smile, though it didn't travel to his eyes. "Of course not. I know you're worried, but you really don't have to be. Whatever's going on out there is someone else's problem now." He continued caressing her hand as he leaned in to kiss her. _

_ "I love you, Ellie," he declared, "I really do. And nothing's going to change that." _

_ "I love you too, Isaac," she whispered in response as she stroked his cheek. _

_ Isaac leaned back in his seat, rolling his napkin up and placing it on the table. "I'll be right back," he said, "And when I come back, maybe we can order dessert." He turned and began heading towards the men's room, leaving Ellie to sit at the booth by herself, and as soon as he was gone, she sighed as she took out her mobile device again to study the picture of Europa's Marker. She had seen Isaac's facial expressions the whole time she was telling him about her research, and even though he insisted he wasn't angry, she knew him very well by now to know that he was lying. She suspected that the only reason he hadn't made a bigger deal out of it was that they were out in public, and he probably didn't want to spoil the evening they were sharing by getting hostile. _

_ Ellie knew Isaac loved her, and she loved him. That went without saying. _

_ Yet she couldn't help but be disappointed in him all the same. _

* * *

_**The next day…**_

"So let me get this straight," I said as Alex and I accepted some soda from Ellie in her apartment, "EarthGov's been building Markers in every other colony in existence? Even _before _the incident on Titan Station?"

Ellie ran a hand through her hair as she sat back in her seat. "That's right," she confirmed, "They must have copied the codes they took from Isaac somehow. And who knows how many more are on the way? I don't know what they plan to do with all of them, but I don't like the looks of this."

Since the three of us had the day off, Ellie had invited me and Alex over to finally let us in on her top secret errands, and so far, it had definitely been a shock to find all this out.

"Forget EarthGov," Alex spoke up, "What about the Unitologists? Whenever something's going on with the government, you can bet the Church won't be too far behind, especially concerning the Marker. That's their 'sacred artifact'."

"That's another good point," Ellie conceded, facing her, "We've seen what they can do, so we shouldn't rule them out, either. When you were living with them all those years, did they ever mention any plans similar to this one?"

Alex nodded. "Daina was always talking about spreading Convergence throughout the entire galaxy, even before the incident on the _Sprawl_. She spent most of her life searching for a way to make it happen, so you can probably imagine how stoked she was when she found out about Isaac."

"How did Isaac take it when you told him last night?" I questioned.

Ellie shrugged, taking a swig of grape soda. "He seemed all right with it," she replied, "But he also seemed awfully eager to just brush it aside like it didn't matter." She sighed, leaning forward in her seat again.

"I'm going to give it some time, and then I'll broach the topic with him again. I guess I just feel like if we have the knowledge to end this threat and try to save mankind, we should use it and take action."

So it looked like I was right in thinking that Ellie wasn't content with just settling down after all. It seemed to fit her personality, though; back on the _Sprawl_, she was always full of energy and spunk, even after having her eye poked out.

As I took in everything Ellie was saying, I couldn't help but be reminded of something Terrence Kyne had once told me and Isaac way back on the _Valor_. "_If you leave now, you condemn all humanity!_" he had shouted at us in a fit of madness, and looking back at that…by settling down now, was that what we were essentially doing? Condemning all humanity?

I then thought about my own attitude towards _Dead Space _before I ended up back here. I had had the exact same mentality as Isaac: that all this was someone else's problem now. I'd be a hypocrite if I said otherwise.

On the other hand, I hadn't expected to end up back here, and I realized I must have been sent back for a reason. And it wasn't to go on vacation, either.

God, I hated being caught in the middle.

"It's all right," Ellie commented as if she had somehow read my mind, "You two don't have to take sides if you don't want to, and I won't pressure you about it. I'm just telling you the facts."

"Don't worry about it," I assured her, "It's not a big deal."

Ellie just shook her head, glancing down at her mobile device once again. "Anyway, that's all there is to it, really. Now that I told Isaac, I figured you two would want to know. I'll go get my files so that I can show you what I found. Make of it what you will." With a nod, she got up and disappeared into the bedroom, leaving both of us to our own thoughts.

"So what do you think, Alex?" I asked, "If what Ellie said is true, I want to help. I've been in this since the beginning and I couldn't back out now. There are plenty of ways we could do this without risking our lives and leaving the colony." I thought that sounded like a good compromise. I didn't know about Alex, but I didn't want to side with one over the other. Isaac and Ellie were both my friends and I wanted to be able to work with both of them.

"I want to help, too," Alex stated, "A long time ago, you said to try and find a way to prove that you guys can trust me, and I think this is it. I knew a lot of the higher-ups in the Church on Titan Station and I may have picked up some inside information from them. This could be my chance to try and find out what they may be up to and put an end to it. I supported the Unitologists on the _Sprawl _and didn't do anything to stop them, and I refuse to let more innocent people die because of that."

"They won't," I assured her, "We'll make sure of that whatever way we can. And who knows? Maybe things won't turn out as serious as we think they will."

* * *

_**Six months later…**_

But as the months passed, we found that things weren't as peachy keen as we would have liked them to be.

One day, after grabbing my homemade lunch out of my work locker, I made my way over to the cafeteria as I spotted Isaac sitting alone at our usual table. When I had first woken up in this universe again, he hadn't had a lot of facial hair, but now, I could see a beard, mustache, and noticeable sideburns starting to grow, almost as if he hadn't shaved in a long time. The bags under his eyes were a little darker as well, which eerily reminded me of when I had first reunited with him on the _Sprawl_.

"God damn it," one of the engineers I often saw in passing, Aaron Smith, muttered under his breath as he appeared next to me on the tray line, "Is Clarke down in the dumps _again_?"

I bristled, but fought the wave of irritation as I reached for a tray to rest my lunch on. "What's it to you?" I asked, "He's not personally hurting _you_, is he?"

Smith shrugged. "Well, no," he admitted, "But he's gotta stop being such a fuckin' _downer_. It ruins the working environment for the rest of us."

I balked. "Well, have you ever actually _tried _to figure out why he might be like that before judging him like this?" I snapped.

"I don't want to get to know him in any shape or form. I'm afraid to. Seriously, the guy comes across as having a few loose screws, and I'm not gonna be around when he snaps. If I were you, kid, I'd consider giving him a wide berth as well."

Fuming, I snatched my tray up from the counter. "Well, you're _not _me, thank God, so do us all a favor and take your damn foot out of your mouth." Before he could say anything else, I shoved him in the shoulder as I hurried over to my usual table.

"I swear, I have no idea why people are so judgmental these days," I commented, glancing over at Smith, who was rubbing his shoulder.

Isaac waved his hand dismissively and shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I just ignore him now. I've got more important things to worry about. Like Ellie and the rumors we've been hearing lately. I guess you and Alex know about them, too?"

Ellie had initially been right when she said that things had been relatively quiet, even a year after the _Sprawl _incident, but what we had been hearing recently turned all that upside down.

"Yeah, we've heard them, too," I confirmed, returning to the present, "Somehow, I doubt they're just rumors, though. I was thinking of maybe keeping my ears open a little more if anyone says anything else. It could help shed some light on the information Ellie gave us months ago."

Suddenly, Isaac's head shot up as he widened his eyes and pointed at me. "Oh, no," he replied, "Don't you start with that, too, now! I already told Ellie, and now I'll tell you: we are _not _getting involved in this!"

True to her word, Ellie had waited for quite some time before approaching Isaac with the idea of him helping her with her research again, and just like the first time, he didn't seem to be taking the bait. I had figured as much due to the muffled, tense discussions Alex and I caught every now and then, though we couldn't make out the words. Also true to her word, the pilot never asked either of us to take sides, only relaying information to us and leaving us to interpret it on our own.

"But we wouldn't have to leave the colony while doing any of this," I said in response, calling up my idea of a compromise I had outlined with Alex, "We wouldn't be putting our lives on the line. Hell, we wouldn't even really be getting involved-"

"I said _no_, Timmy!" Isaac snapped, making me jump at his sudden sharp tone, "On the _Sprawl_, all I kept hearing in my head was to let go of the past, and that's exactly what we need to do here. We need to move on and just keep the past where it belongs for once." Before I could get another word in edgewise, he grabbed his tray, got up from the table, turned, and exited the cafeteria, dumping his unfinished lunch in the garbage and disappearing from my sight.

"Isaac!" I called out after him, but he ignored me as he continued to head back to work. _Damn it, _I thought, quickly finishing my lunch and thinking about the rumors that had been plaguing us as of late.

What we had been hearing for the past two months in the six months since Ellie first revealed her research appeared to be no more than gossip, really, but due to our past experiences, we were a bit more in tune to this type of chatter than most people. Whispers about the Unitologists rising up in arms, overtaking Europa, and completely wiping out EarthGov's forces stationed there seemed to follow us wherever we went, putting us all on edge, especially Alex.

"_If the rumors are true, then this might be a more radical division of the Church," she had told me as we relaxed in our apartment one day two months ago._

"_Oh God," I had groaned, feeling dread creep through my veins, "You mean there might be even worse Unitologists than the likes of Mercer and Daina?" Instant flashbacks of my time as Mercer's lab rat raced through my mind, and I blinked and shook my head to refocus myself._

"_Unfortunately," Alex answered with a melancholy sigh as she leaned her head on my shoulder, "It sounds like it from all the whispers we've been hearing lately. And if this is true, then we have to find out what they're up to." _

"_Did you ever hear of any possible groups like this one when you were in the Church back on the Sprawl?" I asked her. _

"_Every now and then, but I never heard any specific names. Besides, you figure there will always be some extremists in any religion. Unitology just happens to be more aggressive." _

As I walked back to my work station, I reflected on how adamant the engineer was about not wanting to be involved. It was definitely a far cry from his attitude on the _Sprawl_; there, after becoming seasoned due to the Aegis VII Incident, he had become a leader in his own right, guiding the rest of us to safety and even putting aside his own struggles just to make sure we were all right. Perhaps it was because of this attitude that Ellie figured Isaac would be ready to jump right back into the current situation. It was clear that she was, and I couldn't blame her for not wanting history to repeat itself. None of us wanted that after everything we had seen.

While I definitely wanted to help end the Marker threat, I could also see where Isaac was coming from. I had been there for most, if not all of his episodes, and it killed me every time to see him caught up in such an aggressive battle with his own mind. While I had had my fair share of hallucinations, they weren't nearly as frequent as his. I just hoped that the horrible side effects of the Marker weren't coming back to haunt him now, despite having freed himself.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God!" one of the other computer specialists was yelling once I finally made it back to my work station, "Europa is _gone_! Completely in the dark! Those Marker Heads are gonna wipe us all out!"

"Calm down, Jefferson!" one of the others, Rivers, coaxed the hysterical man, "Or you'll give yourself a heart attack. Sheesh."

"How am I supposed to calm down with the threat of the Unitologists looming in other colonies? I don't want them overthrowing EarthGov! Then nobody will be left to keep them in check!"

"I thought what happened on Europa was just a rumor," I spoke up as I logged back into my computer.

Jefferson scoffed. "Rumor my ass," he said, "Where have you been for the last two months? It's all true. Here, watch this." He reached for a remote and turned the nearby television on, which we all watched with wide eyes as images from Europa flashed across the screen.

"_And in our top stories this afternoon, the ongoing debate of whether or not EarthGov should interfere with Unitologist gatherings in other colonies, despite separation of church and state, continues. Just two months ago, a group of Unitologists calling themselves the Circle staged a sudden uprising against the government in the Jove Colony on Europa, wiping out all forces stationed there. A man named Jacob Danik has claimed responsibility for the coup d'etat, although it is unclear what exactly his motives are._"

"What do they mean, they don't know what his motives are?" Rivers scoffed, "He's a fucking _Unitologist_! There's your answer right there!"

I just continued to watch the news in silence, wondering if Ellie, Isaac, and Alex had heard about this yet. It was one thing to hear rumors, but getting an actual confirmation was something else entirely. The fact that Ellie had shown the rest of us pictures of a Marker located on the Jove Colony, and Alex had mentioned the Church's devotion to the artifact…that must have meant…

Shit!

If Europa had fallen, what was going to happen to the rest of the colonies with Markers? Would they suffer the same fate?

_Oh God, _I thought, _This is not good. Not good at all! _

I had a feeling I knew exactly what was going to happen, whether I liked it or not.

All hell was about to break loose.


	4. Chapter Three: Twisted Reality

Wow, so this chapter turned out a little longer than I thought it would. I usually like to keep my chapters between 5,000-9,000 words, so I hope this isn't pushing it. There was so much I wanted to put in this one, since this is the chapter where the events of _Dead Space _3 are going to start.

I've taken some liberties with the very beginning of the game, and I've decided that this story will be a mix of both campaigns. Some parts will follow the single player mode and others will follow the co-op mode.

Anyway, onto the chapter! Thanks again to everyone who's been reading, reviewing, favoriting, and alerting this story! And thank you to Codename MOTHER for your review, too! :D

**DISCLAIMER: **Only my OCs, plot ideas, and alterations from the original game are mine. Everything else belongs to Visceral Games/EA.

* * *

_**March 25**__**th**__**, 2514…**_

"Fuck you, Danik!" Jefferson cursed as we all gathered around the TV to watch more coverage on the recent attack on the Ares Colony, located on the moon Phobos orbiting Mars. By now, it was no surprise to learn that Jacob Danik was the culprit, just like he had been with all the other uprisings over the last couple of years. The fact that we knew nothing about him other than his religious affiliation was the most unnerving part of all.

"Have they released any information about him at all during this time?" I asked.

"No, nothing. Not even a picture. I guess there's nobody left to capture his image. I wish someone, _anyone_, would just stop him already. Soon, there won't be anyone left on any of the colonies!"

"Let's just be thankful he hasn't set his sights on us," Rivers chimed in.

"Yet!" Jefferson spat, "We're one of the only ones still standing."

Thankfully, it was time for my lunch break, so I bade the others goodbye, grabbed my belongings, and made my way over to the cafeteria, hoping to just enjoy my meal and not think about Danik or the Circle for a while. Even with the increasing Unitologist threat, the people here didn't seem to let it bother them, and instead carried out their day to day activities as they normally would.

So did I.

As I continued to walk to my usual spot, I sighed as I turned my thoughts to Isaac and Ellie. The arguing over their different interests concerning what Isaac now dubbed "Marker Chasing" had escalated, with more yelling on Isaac's part and obvious frustration in Ellie's voice as she tried to reason with him. Some nights even consisted of doors slamming, such as from a few days ago, before Isaac had called out sick. It was tough going through every day knowing that he was suffering from some lingering issues in his mind, but I wouldn't give up on him. He had pulled through in the past and I knew he'd be strong enough to somehow get through this, no matter how long it took.

"Damn it," I suddenly heard a familiar voice grumble, "Still no answer. Let me try again." I heard the sound of Ellie redialing her phone, and I wondered what was going on.

"Isaac, I know you're there," she said, "Come on, pick up the phone." She sighed.

"Fine. Look, I just called to say, I'm moving on. I have to. Just…take care of yourself, okay?" I heard the clicking of the phone as she hung up, and I hurriedly continued down the hallway so that it wouldn't look like I was eavesdropping on her conversation.

"Timmy, wait!"

_Damn, _I thought, about-facing as Ellie stepped out of her office, a suitcase in one hand and an attaché case with her Marker research in the other.

"I'm glad I caught you," she continued, "I know you're on your way to lunch, but there's something I need to tell you."

What's going on?" I asked, not sure if I really wanted to know the answer.

A regretful expression crossed Ellie's face as she sighed and glanced down at the floor. "I broke up with Isaac a few days ago."

"You _what_?" I gasped, my mouth dropping open in shock.

"I broke up with him," the pilot repeated, putting her attaché case down to rest her hand, "I love Isaac. I really do, and I know he's your friend, but it just got to be too much, Timmy. I've tried everything under the sun to get him to stop wallowing in the past, but he's only pushed me further away."

I shook my head, trying to process this bit of information. _That's why Isaac called out sick, _I realized. "How…how was Isaac when you broke the news to him?" I asked quietly, even though I already knew the answer.

"Not good at all. I hated seeing the pain on his face when I told him it was over. I really wish it didn't have to be this way, but I know there's no going back now."

_Shit, _I thought, _Isaac must be devastated_. Even though I wasn't involved in their conflict, I couldn't help but think about how life just seemed to be really unfair to Isaac. The man had been through hell and back, losing people that were important to him, nearly dying every second, his sanity being compromised, and having others constantly stab him in the back.

There had to be another way to handle this situation. There just _had _to be.

"Don't give up on him, Ellie," I said, "Maybe…Isaac just needs more time to come around. I mean, he's been through some pretty crazy shit-"

"I know," Ellie cut in, "I've thought about that every day, but I can't help him if he doesn't want to help himself." She shook her head.

"Anyway, I just wanted to say goodbye to you. I managed to catch Alex before she left for work this morning, and Isaac…well, you know. I've found someone here that wants to stop the Markers like I do, and we're leaving for Haven Prime tomorrow. Fortunately, that station hasn't been overrun yet."

"Leaving?" I echoed in disbelief, "For good?"

"I'm not sure yet. I could come back one day. Make this a permanent home, you know? That's the whole point of my mission. After what happened on the _Sprawl_…" She trailed off there.

"Anyway," she repeated, "Thank you, Timmy. For just listening to everything. You and Alex take care of yourselves, okay?"

I sighed, glancing down at the ground. I didn't want her to leave, and I had hoped that things would work out with her and Isaac, but Ellie was an adult and I couldn't stop her from doing what she had to do, either.

"We will," I eventually told her, "And you be careful on your mission, too."

Ellie smiled ruefully. "Don't worry about me. I can hold my own. And one more thing." She stepped closer to me.

"I know you were probably going to do this anyway, but…can you keep an eye on Isaac for me? You know, to make sure he takes care of himself?"

I didn't reply right away, though that was a no-brainer for sure. "I will," I promised Ellie. She nodded and then moved forward to hug me, but seemed to think better of it and just shook my hand instead. Once she pulled away, she gave me one more sad smile, grabbed both her cases, and then turned to leave the building, not looking back at what she was leaving behind.

* * *

_**Three months later-June 25**__**th**__**, 2514… **_

"I just still can't believe she gave up on me," Isaac said as he took a sip of water, "I thought everything was working out just fine, you know?"

"I know," I replied quietly, downing my own cup of water and then refilling it.

"She told me she couldn't help me anymore if I kept turning my back on the past. She thought I should stop running away from it and confront it head-on, but it's not as easy as it sounds. With the things I've seen, the things I've been through…I can't go back to that, Timmy. And I don't want to. I've told Ellie that, but I guess it didn't help my case, did it? People want things they can fix, and I'm permanently broken."

I didn't know what to say to that, honestly, so I just sat in silence and continued to listen as Isaac finally spilled his guts on his breakup with Ellie. Although it had been three months after the fact, he had only just started to open up recently, reciprocating both mine and Alex's efforts to reach out to him. Both of us had thrown him lifelines; it was good to know he was taking one of them.

"But who knows?" Isaac continued, "Maybe she'll come back one day, and we can pick up where we left off. I'd like that." For the first time in a long time, I caught a glimpse of a hopeful expression on his face before it disappeared again.

_He's still in love with her, _I realized, and part of me did hope that Ellie would change her mind and give the engineer a second chance. Now that some time had gone by, I didn't think it was right for her to break up with him when he needed her the most. I respected the fact that she had to take care of herself, too, but I figured there could have been other ways to do that.

"How was Isaac today?" Alex asked hours later once I was back in the apartment and she had made it home from work.

"He's talking more," I reported, "But he's still asking for personal space. Right as I was leaving, I caught him looking at a picture of Ellie again."

Alex sighed sadly. "He really misses her, huh?" she asked quietly.

I nodded. I remembered how upset he had been with me after I inadvertently ended up leaving him in EarthGov's hands on the _Sprawl_, but Ellie breaking up with him seemed so much worse. I couldn't even begin to imagine how damaging that must have been to lose another woman he loved.

"Hey," I spoke up as I went to go wrap my arms around Alex after noticing her crestfallen expression, "It's gonna be okay. I know it doesn't seem like it now, but I'm positive there will be a silver lining in all this."

"I hope so," she replied, "I'd love more than anything for this whole situation to blow over."

"And it will. Some day." I pulled back for a second and grinned.

"Why don't we go out and just have a good time tonight?" Alex suddenly suggested, "Put this EarthGov-Unitology-Marker crisis aside for now?"

I returned the warm smile. "I like that idea," I said, "We haven't done that in a while, have we?"

"We've been so worried about the other colonies that we haven't had time for ourselves. I think we've earned a break for sure."

"How about checking out that new club, Nebula, near Bella Venezia? I've passed by it a couple of times and it seems pretty cool."

Alex nodded, beaming. "Sounds like a plan."

And after quickly showering and then changing into outfits more appropriate for going out, we were on our way, with me leaving a quick message for Isaac and letting him know where he could reach us before walking out the door. The trip from Earthrise Apartments to Nebula was pleasant for the most part, the commuter rail that ran parallel to the freeway speeding through the different stations as we headed towards the heart of the colony.

The club itself was jam packed by the time we got there, and the music played loudly on the sound system that was placed strategically around the room. People were on the dance floor, just enjoying the songs blasting while others occupied the bar. Large television screens hung from the walls, with some playing music videos and others giving flashes of various locations on Earth.

"Nice, right?" I shouted over the din.

"Yeah!" Alex cried back, smiling, "Remember the last time we went dancing?"

I just shook my head as I remembered the black-tie event the two of us had attended right before the _Sprawl's _Necromorph outbreak. "I guess that's why we never gave it another shot," I responded, "Might as well take the chance now!"

"Come on, let's go!" Alex and I grabbed each other's hands and made our way to the center of the club just as the DJ on the other side tapped his microphone and began to speak into it.

"All right, guys!" he cried, "Here's another mix from your very own DJ Anderson! This is for all of you who aren't afraid to stand up for yourselves, your friends, or your family. You are what makes this colony strong in these dark times, and we will not let the Unitologists break our spirits! Long live New Horizons!"

"_Long live New Horizons!_" we all shouted, cheering as a foam machine turned on from somewhere above us and began releasing a mix of foam and bubbles throughout the room, the suds glowing various colors from the screens and lights. With that, a medley of different popular techno songs began to play, and Alex and I closed our eyes and danced for the next few hours, letting go of everything for just that one night. We could go back to dealing with the Unitologist problem another day, but for now, it was time to enjoy our lives if everything was going to end up going to hell.

At one point, Alex turned around to face me as we took a brief break from dancing. In that moment, I couldn't help but think about how far we had both come since the day we met in the Titan Memorial Medical Center, and how much we had changed over the last few years.

With that in mind, I leaned in to kiss Alex…only to find that the music had suddenly stopped.

"What the hell?" I muttered under my breath, the crowd murmuring in confusion all around us as the foam machine and monitors shut off as well.

"Hey, DJ!" one of the many partygoers shouted, "Turn the music back on!"

"I'm trying!" DJ Anderson insisted as his hands flew across the table and the outlets for the sound system, "I don't know what happened!"

All of a sudden, the monitors flickered back on, though instead of showing music videos and slideshows of Earth, they showed something else, which caused the raucous crowd to go silent in shock. The screens were now a bright red, with the words _Make Us Whole_ superimposed over the image of the Black Marker. "Oh, no," Alex whispered, covering her mouth, "Oh, God, _no_. _Not here._"

"_Brothers and sisters,_" a man with short brown hair, sunglasses, and a white winter jacket began, "_The age of man is at an end. We have become too many, too little to go around. Corporations that we once trusted with our money have squandered it. The governments that we once trusted with our future have sabotaged it. To their eternal credit, we are dying._"

"What the fuck is this shit?" someone on the other side of the club snapped, "Turn it off!"

"I-I can't!" DJ Anderson stammered, no longer the confident, relaxed man from before, "I-it won't let me!"

"_Boo!_" people began hissing at the screens as Anderson tried in vain to figure out how to stop the message from playing. _Shit, shit, shit,_ I thought as my mouth dropped open.

"_Fear not,_" the Unitology-commercial continued, "_For there is a future. As promised by the prophet, Michael Altman, the Black Marker has a plan for all of you.__ It will lift us up from our miserable existence and we will become one. United in body, and united in spirit. Our unity will be our salvation. We'll live on, not as man, but as God. The Church of Unitology is waiting for you, my friends. Throw off the chains of this life, and join us as the new one begins. I'm Jacob Arthur Danik, and I am this message._" The ad briefly cut out before looping again from the very beginning, and as the crowd began shouting angrily at both the screens and the poor DJ, Alex and I stayed rooted to the spot, processing what we had just seen. The more I thought about the video, the more I was reminded of Challus Mercer…in the worst possible way.

"_That _was the infamous Jacob Danik?" I gasped, "Then that must mean…" My eyes widened as everything suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Oh, _shit_!"

"We've gotta get out of here!" Alex cried, "We've gotta warn Isaac!"

"What are we waiting for, then? Come on!" We frantically pushed through the crowd, ignoring the jeering and people shoving each other to leave the club as we sprinted towards the door. Once we made it back out to the street, we hurried back to the train, hoping we would make it back to Earthrise Apartments before it was too late. After everything we had heard about this Jacob Danik for the last few years, the fact that he was here broadcasting a message…

All the other colonies had gone dark because of his army. Now, it looked like it was our turn.

Out of nowhere, we heard the loud humming of engines above us, and we looked up in time to see a zeppelin slowly cruising over the colony. "_…as promised by the prophet, Michael Altman, the Black Marker has a plan for all of you…_" Jacob Danik's message continued in fragments over the screen attached to the bottom of the machine.

"Christ," Alex hissed under her breath, "At this rate, the whole _colony _will have seen his video!"

Suddenly, the sound of screeching brakes greeted my ears, and like a deer caught in headlights, I glanced up in time as a police car sped towards us. "Look out!" I shouted, pushing Alex out of the way and then diving to the side as it came to rest right next to us. After the car made a wide U-turn and left tire marks on the pavement, a side door swung open.

"EarthGov!" an unfamiliar, brusque voice yelled as a hand reached out and flashed a badge towards us, "You two, get in!"

"_EarthGov_?" I spat incredulously.

"Just get in the car!" the same voice snapped, "We don't have a lot of time and we'll try and explain everything along the way!"

Even though neither of us had any idea who these men were, we still scrambled to climb into the back of the car, with Alex pulling the door shut behind her as the vehicle took off, speeding away from the commuter rail and on a secluded side street close to the freeway. The driver, a tan-skinned man with brown eyes, black hair, and a scar running down the left side of his face, jerked the wheel back and forth as he weaved between the two lanes, putting the pedal to the floor as he hurried to get us away from the heart of the colony. He was dressed in a red and black suit that reminded me of some of EarthGov's security suits while the passenger in the back with us was almost my complexion, with brown hair and a blue and silver suit.

"Thanks for the ride," Alex thanked them, "But who are you guys? What's going on?"

"I'm Captain Robert Norton," the man sitting next to me answered immediately, "And that's Sergeant John Carver in the driver's seat."

John Carver. Wasn't that the name of the other playable character Chris had told me about in the real world? So this was him, huh?

"You said you were with EarthGov before," I recalled, "I didn't know any of you were still left!"

"Obviously we are, or else we wouldn't be here, would we?" Norton retorted as I frowned, put off by the condescending tone in his voice.

"How were we supposed to know that?" I quipped.

The soldier up front-John Carver-narrowed his eyes as he glanced in the rearview mirror. "We don't need to ask if he's Timmy Stamford, Captain," he spoke up, "I already know this is him."

"How?" I asked.

"Because you're being flippant and disrespectful, that's how," Carver answered in a rough voice, "Like you always are."

I glared at him in response. "You guys work for EarthGov," I told him, "And they put me and my friends through hell, not to mention all those Markers they built. Not really a good reason to have respect for any of you guys."

"I don't give a _damn_ about _who _you respect," the soldier snapped, "And this is our first time meeting you, so quit acting like you know everything about us."

"I'm just going to cut to the chase, Stamford," Norton jumped in before I could reply to his second-in-command, "We were told you and Adams could lead us to Isaac Clarke. So, where is he?"

I paused, choosing to lock eyes with the Captain instead of the tough as nails soldier accompanying him. "Why do you need to know?" I asked, "Who told you that?"

"Ellie Langford," the Captain answered swiftly, "Former CEC Heavy Equipment Pilot and Isaac Clarke's ex-girlfriend? Yeah, we know her. She said you two are friends of hers."

Alex and I gasped, trading glances with each other. Out of all the explanations in the world, I definitely wasn't expecting that one. So _that _was how they knew who we were!

"Wait, you guys know Ellie?" Alex piped up, "Are you the ones she went on her secret mission with, then?"

"Something like that," Carver said, "We don't have a lot of time, so we need to know where Isaac is now." He accelerated even more, making a sharp right turn until we began climbing up a bridge that passed over the train tracks. If these two were really acquaintances of Ellie's, and they had traveled all this way from wherever she was to find us, that must have meant…

Damn it! She must have been in some kind of trouble.

"You think she might have found something to do with the Markers?" Alex asked me.

"Maybe," I replied, "Think we should give them Isaac's location?"

"Well, we were going to warn him about the Unitologists anyway. Besides, these soldiers aren't gonna leave us alone until we give them the information they want."

She had a point, but at the same time, I had to admit I still had mixed feelings about the way Ellie had ended things with Isaac, and to ask for him again after all this time…it just didn't seem right.

"Not to rush you two, but are you gonna help us out or not?" Norton asked impatiently, "We can't drive around forever."

"He's in Earthrise Apartments," I explained, eventually reluctantly deciding to give them what they were asking for, "Apartment sixteen right on the first floor."

Norton nodded and tapped the back of the driver's seat. "You hear that, Carver?" he asked, "Earthrise Apartments."

"Aye, sir," the Sergeant replied, pressing a few buttons on the panel and driving even faster at this point. _This better not end up being a hoax, _I thought as I clutched the seat for support.

* * *

After finally pulling up to the very familiar decrepit gate, Carver killed the engine and climbed out of the car, with Norton, Alex, and I following close behind. We quickly opened the gate, filing into the building itself and heading towards Isaac's apartment.

Once we were there, Carver crept inside and ducked into the bathroom as the rest of us sauntered over to the front door.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of someone getting pistol-whipped, and gasping, I sprinted in time to see the soldier knocking Isaac to the ground and pointing a gun at his back. _Jesus, _I thought, _Does this guy have to be so brutal?_

"You Isaac Clarke?" he asked.

"Get the fuck off me!" Isaac snapped.

"_Answer me_!"

Norton strolled into the apartment, picking up a photograph from the ground and studying it. "It's him," he announced, "Stamford and Adams were right, Sergeant."

"Wait, Timmy and Alex?" Isaac echoed, "Are they with you now? Did they tell you I was here? Who the hell are you?"

"Lift him up," the Captain commanded, "Up!" The Sergeant yanked the engineer up from the ground as Norton turned towards the door again.

"You two," he said, pointing at us, "Come here. You're gonna wanna hear this, too." Alex and I crowded around him as he faced Isaac again.

"I don't have a lot of time, so I'm gonna make this brief," he quipped, "I understand you're something of an expert on Markers. You created one-"

"I didn't make _shit_!" Isaac interrupted, "Your government made me!" I glanced down at the ground, feeling guilty for the first time in a long time.

"And you destroyed two, which is why we're here. We've got a job for you, and your friends have been invited, too."

"What kind of job?" Alex asked.

"Marker detail, of course," Carver replied, and I could tell he was trying not to roll his eyes as he kept his gun trained on the engineer.

"You barely explained anything to us in the car," I reminded him, "Just remember that."

Isaac widened his eyes and shook his head. "No," he protested, "_No!_ I'm done with that! Find somebody else for your suicide mission!"

"We did," Norton said, "And before we lost contact with her, she told us to find you, Stamford, and Adams." He held up a picture of Ellie as he said this, making me realize that none of this was a trick after all. If we were going to be completing this job for them, we were going to have to trust them, unfortunately.

"Ellie!" Isaac gasped, "Where is she? What'd you do to her? _Where is she?_"

Suddenly, an explosion rocked the building, and we all glanced out the window as a rather chaotic scene unfolded. "Holy shit!" I gasped.

"_Unitologists have breached the inner concourse_!" someone announced through the EarthGov soldiers' RIGs, "_We can't hold them_!"

"Captain!" Carver cried, "Runnin' out of time! We've gotta go!" Norton nodded, turned back to Isaac, and held up Ellie's picture again.

"She's out there all alone, Isaac. And I can't help her unless you help me."

I caught the conflicted expression on Isaac's face, and I could tell he was reluctant to accept the job. The last time he had answered a distress call from a significant other, things hadn't ended well. But I also knew how much he still cared for Ellie. On the _Sprawl, _he had been willing to give up his own life just so that she could be safe, and it was because of these things that he finally relented.

"Okay," he decided, "_Okay_!"

Norton nodded, pocketed Ellie's photo, and then turned to me and Alex.

"We're heading out to the front gate," he reported, "Meet us there."

"All right," I replied, "But watch yourselves out there."

Behind me, Isaac picked up the picture of himself as Carver finally let go of him and dropped a machine gun on the ground. "Here," he said, "Let's get moving." And with that, he exited the apartment as well, leaving the three of us to our own devices.

"Are you all right, Isaac?" I asked, helping him up from the ground, "They didn't rough you up too badly, did they?"

Isaac shook his head. "I'm fine. Did you guys tell them where I was? Do you know what's going on with Ellie?"

"Yeah to the first question, and no to the second one," I answered, "They found us by Nebula, picked us up, and then practically forced us to give them your address."

"And all they said was that they knew Ellie," Alex added, "We don't know what's going on, either. But we should hurry and get going!"

After gathering ourselves, we hurried out into the hallway, Isaac tapping into his RIG to get in touch with the two soldiers.

"Okay, we said we'd help you," he began, "Now where's Ellie? How long has she been missing?"

"_Just shut up and get over here!_" Norton replied in that same, impatient tone from before, "_We'll explain later!_" He hung up, leaving us to practically jog through the hallways in an attempt to catch up with the others. Next to me, Alex shook her head in dismay, and she didn't need to open her mouth to let me know how turned off she was by his attitude.

"Hey!" Isaac yelled once we finally made it to the gate, "Who the hell are you guys?"

"EarthGov's last battalion," Captain Norton explained as he glanced over his shoulder and proceeded to introduce both himself and Carver to the engineer.

"Last battalion?" Isaac echoed, "What do you mean?"

"Last means last, genius," Norton retorted in that _you're such an idiot _tone of voice again, "As in, no more left."

"We _know _what last means," I growled, clenching my fists and disliking the Captain more and more every second.

"Quiet, Stamford," Carver hissed, peering through the gate at the scene up ahead, "All right, looks clear." The two of them pulled the gate open, and Alex and I ran to catch up with them as Isaac followed closely behind us.

"No more left?" he whispered to us, "It got that bad?"

Neither of us had an answer for that, but fortunately, we spotted our car from before just up ahead, its lights now flashing in the darkness. "There's our ride!" Norton announced, "Let's go!"

Just as we began sprinting over to the car, a flash of light to our left caught my eye, and when I turned my neck, I gasped at the sight that greeted me. There were soldiers with guns, masks covering their faces as they wore bulky uniforms adorned with white Marker symbols surrounded by a circle. "Shit, you guys!" I cursed, "Look who's found us!"

"This must be the Circle!" Alex gasped as well, and she grabbed my hand as she began pulling me away from the wall, out of the path of a shower of bullets.

"Get to the car!" Carver ordered, "Go, go!"

_Bam! _I couldn't help it; I screamed as another bullet barely missed my neck, and I held Alex close to me so that she wouldn't get caught in the crossfire. This reminded me too much of the beginning of the Necromorph outbreak back on the _Sprawl, _when Tiedemann had sent his soldiers to kill me at a party I was attending.

Behind me, Isaac cursed under his breath as he raised the Plasma Cutter he had picked up from his apartment, opening fire on the Unitologists in self-defense. It wasn't long before we finally made it to the getaway car…and found ourselves facing another Circle soldier who was climbing onto the trunk. He took out two grenades and held them high in the air, making me, Isaac, and Alex stop in our tracks as Norton and Carver kept running. _Oh, crap! _I thought, _They've got suicide bombers now?_

"Get down!" Isaac cried, putting his Plasma Cutter away and pushing us out of the way just as the soldier pressed a button, detonating the bombs in a loud, fiery explosion that rocked the ground beneath our feet and incinerated our getaway car. The concrete crumbled, sending the three of us plummeting into the sewers below as we screamed again, hoping and praying that we wouldn't get killed. As much as I couldn't stand either of them so far, I hoped Carver and Norton were okay, too.

Eventually, the smoke and noise subsided, leaving us to cough and sputter as we picked ourselves up again, dusting ourselves off. I had to admit I was shaken from that near death experience, and I could see Isaac and Alex were rattled as well. My ears rang and my head hurt from how close we were to the explosion, and I closed my eyes to try and will the pain to go away. "Jesus," I mumbled, "Are you guys okay? What the hell just happened?"

"This way!" a voice cried, "They're down here!"

"I see 'em! Open fire!"

"Uh oh," Alex piped up, "We've gotta get out of here and regroup with Carver and Norton as fast as we can!"

I glanced up in time to see a spotlight sweeping the area we were in, and once it landed on us, orange lasers filled the entire premises. We covered our heads and just ran for it, avoiding the shower of bullets raining down on us. I supposed we could be thankful for the fact that these soldiers seemed to have really itchy trigger fingers.

"Kill the heretics!" another Circle agent screamed, "Tear 'em to fucking pieces!"

"Look out!" Alex warned, pointing at a rocket that had just been propelled towards the wall, exploding and sending more concrete sailing in the air. Some of it landed on the soldiers while the rest sprayed in our direction as we took cover behind a sound wall.

"Norton!" Isaac cried into his RIG, "These are Unitologists! Why are they trying to kill us?"

"_You!_" the Captain corrected, "_They're trying to kill you!_"

"_What?_" Isaac gasped.

"_Just get out of there and shut your trap!_"

"Relax, Norton!" I spoke up, but he ignored me as he hung up, and once all the Circle soldiers in the area were accounted for by their own grenades, Isaac led the two of us deeper into the sewers, where we eventually found a ladder.

"You guys go first," he said, "I'll keep an eye out for anyone else."

I let Alex climb up first, and then I followed suit, leaving enough room for Isaac to make his short ascent. My heart felt like it was about to burst from the major adrenaline rush I was experiencing.

"Why are these fanatics after me?" Isaac asked Norton after getting in touch with him via video RIG.

"_You've destroyed Markers in the past, Isaac. That makes you a direct threat to their plan._"

"Plan?" Isaac repeated.

"_Some end-time prophecy based on the Markers. I'm sure Stamford's girlfriend is familiar with that._"

"Convergence?" Isaac inquired, glancing at Alex, who merely nodded.

"_Yeah,_" Norton confirmed, "_Ellie thinks you can stop it._"

"So now she's missing and they followed you here?"

"_Yes! Now get to the roof of the Dredger Corp. building. There's an extraction team waiting._" He signed off, and Isaac just shook his head.

"And to think you used to be one of those fanatics, Alex," he commented.

"Believe me, I woke up," she said in response, "I would never rejoin the Church even if my life depended on it."

* * *

_**A few minutes later…**_

"This is terrible," was all I could say as we quickly passed through the streets, walking by bodies of innocent people that had been murdered in cold blood. It seemed the Circle had gone around asking for our whereabouts, only to not get the answers they were looking for and decide to shoot these poor citizens instead.

"I know," Isaac agreed, "This is exactly why I didn't wanna get thrown back into all this. But if it means helping Ellie…"

Alex just sighed sadly, shaking her head as she traveled on and stopped in front of the unmanned transports zipping back and forth with no intentions of slowing down.

"Shit!" Isaac cursed into the RIG, "We've hit the freeway!"

"_Then cross it!_" Norton spat impatiently, and I had to ball my hands into fists again to keep myself under control.

"If he talks to us like we're idiots one more time…" I hissed, but I didn't finish my sentence just in case he heard me.

"_Those are unmanned transports, Captain,_" we heard Carver speak up from their end, "_They don't stop for anything. Clarke's an engineer, right? Let him figure it out._"

"Thanks a lot, Carver," Isaac mumbled under his breath, "Anyway, I think I've figured out how to get around it."

And with that, he hurled some Stasis at the next car that whizzed right by us, causing a violent pile up as each car crashed into the next, making me and Alex back up as we took in the scene in front of us. Out of nowhere, flashbacks to the car accident from my own world returned to me, and I couldn't help but think about Chris, Alyssa, and Holly. What was happening to them? And me?

_They're not dead, _I told myself, _They're not dead, and neither are you_.

"Oops," Isaac mumbled as he refilled on Stasis at the station next to us.

"I'd rather these cars get damaged than us get mowed down," Alex pointed out, moving ahead to cross the now empty freeway.

"Point taken," Isaac conceded, "Come on, Timmy."

I nodded and followed the others, climbing up a ladder until we finally managed to get inside the Dredger Corp. building, narrowly avoiding more of the Unitologist soldiers. The sound of shouts and gunfire died down the further we moved in, allowing us to take in the scene in front of us as the door up ahead opened to reveal a gruesome sight.

"Oh my _God_," Alex petitioned under her breath, covering her mouth as we looked around at the bodies speared to columns, candles spread out on the floor, and Unitology script scribbled on all the walls.

Suddenly, a screen flared to life in front of us. "Oh, not _him _again!" I groaned, face-palming myself as Jacob Danik's face appeared, playing his commercial for what felt like the umpteenth time.

"I just hope we never have to meet him," Isaac mused, shaking his head as he took out his RIG.

"Norton!" he cried, "This isn't just a manhunt! It's systematic slaughter!"

"_Oh, you noticed!_" Norton quipped in response, sending another wave of irritation coursing through me. _Stay calm, Timmy, _I told myself, _Stay calm._

"But why topple the government?" Isaac asked, "Why EarthGov?"

"_Danik blames them for experimenting with Markers. Thinks it's heresy, so you can imagine what they think of you and your friends. Have you reached the extraction site yet?_"

"We're almost there."

The three of us quickly climbed into the elevator and took it all the way to the top floor, with me thinking about what Norton had said about Danik's motives. After all these years of them being shrouded in mystery, it was both a relief and frightening to finally know what they were. Alex had guessed that they mostly had something to do with the Markers, but it was another thing entirely to have someone else confirm it. It made me wonder if Norton, and Carver for that matter, had dealt with Danik before. It sounded like it from the Captain's words.

Eventually, the elevator doors opened, allowing us to step into the room…and come face to face with more Unitologists pointing guns at us.

"Take them out!" a voice ordered, and before we could move, gunfire erupted around us, hitting Isaac just above the chest and causing him to collapse to the ground.

Next to me, I heard Alex scream as a bullet barely grazed her arm, and in the same moment, I felt a burning sensation right by my left ear and then another one in my shoulder, the force knocking me to the ground as well. My head felt like it was going to explode, and I glanced over at Alex, only to see that she wasn't moving. _Shit, _I thought as I heard footsteps approach us, and I tried to remain as still as possible so that I would appear to be dead.

"This one's still alive!" another voice announced.

"Bring him here!" the other man commanded, and after a second, I realized they were talking about Isaac. _Damn it, _I thought, opening my eyes slightly in time to see one of the Circle soldiers dragging the engineer by his legs. Up ahead, I spotted a familiar-looking man, the heavy, white snowsuit, the short brown hair and ponytail, and boots being a dead giveaway. Another gunshot rang out as he put a bullet in one of the other men's heads, killing him instantly before kicking him down a hole.

"Isaac Clarke!" Jacob Arthur Danik exclaimed, adjusting his sunglasses as he smiled, "Just the man I was looking for!" _Oh, no, _I thought, keeping my eyes squinted and hoping nobody noticed me, _This is not gonna end well. _

"Oh, don't waste your energy," Danik continued, waving his hand nonchalantly, "You're going to be dead in a matter of minutes. Pick him up! There's something I'd like you to see." He gestured to one of his soldiers, who grabbed Isaac roughly by the arm and yanked him up from the ground. Since no one was watching me and Alex, I opened my eyes a little wider so I could see what was going on.

"There," Danik said, pointing at something outside the large window, "You see that? That's a Marker Test Lab. They're everywhere at all the major colonies and outposts."

Next to me, I could have sworn I heard Alex groan a little bit as she finally regained consciousness, and as we locked eyes, I gently touched her hand, shushing her with my other hand so that we could hear what was going on.

"What do you want from me?" Isaac croaked, still weak from being shot point blank just a few minutes ago.

"As part of the Marker Test Program, Isaac, you helped make them," Danik explained, "And today, you of all people get to watch me set them free."

_Holy shit! _I thought as I bit my tongue to keep from cursing out loud. Next to me, Alex tensed up as well.

"No," Isaac protested, "No! You'll kill everyone!"

"Death is only the beginning, Isaac," Danik continued to preach, "Nature must take its course, and I can't allow you or anyone else to stop that. Eyes forward, Isaac! Pay attention!"

My heart suddenly began to beat faster, though I attempted to will it to slow down so that I could keep up my charade. By the window, Danik pressed a button, causing an _Inception-_like foghorn to sound off, followed by a pulsing yellow light that spread throughout the colony. It was just like the explosion back on Titan Station that had severely injured Tiedemann until his appearance had reminded me of Two Face.

"Oh my God!" Alex whispered in horror under her breath.

"Shit," I cursed in response, "He's actually released another Marker!"

_Well, this colony's fucked, _I thought, dreading the sudden change of events that we knew all too well from previous experiences.

"And now," Danik continued, "It's time for you to join the cycle of rebirth." Isaac managed to dodge the bullet the Unitologist tried to shoot at him, but through squinted eyes, I watched as he fell down the same hole. _Oh, God, Isaac, _I thought, _Please don't be dead. _

"What do you think, Mr. Danik?" one of the others piped up, reloading his pistol, "Should we shoot him a few more times? You know, just to make sure?"

With mounting horror, I watched as Danik leaned over the edge and peered down the chute. "I don't see why not," he replied, "Make it quick, though. We have other matters to attend to."

_Oh God, no! _I thought, deciding now was the time to drop my charade. "Don't even _think _about it!" I shouted, Alex and I both leaping up just as the soldier was getting ready to pull the trigger.

As soon as he heard my voice, Danik whirled around, cocking an eyebrow as he raised his gun and pointed it at us instead. "Well, isn't this a surprise?" he asked sarcastically, chuckling a little bit, "Why did I believe for a second that you had actually finally accepted your fate? You've always been a tough one to convert, Timothy." He nodded at his other soldiers.

"Everyone, grab them."

Alex and I turned to run, but what felt like a million pairs of hands reached for us, grabbing our arms and twisting them behind our backs.

"Ow, let go!" Alex cried, trying to elbow the soldier gripping her, only to get slapped across the face in the process.

"Leave her alone, you bastards!" I snapped, but another one smacked my cheek, causing me to wince as my skin turned red. The soldier who had almost killed Isaac grabbed the sleeve covering my upper right arm, pulling it back as I struggled to break free.

"Let go of me!" I yelled, "_Stop it_!"

The Unitologist now traced a few gloved fingers across where my infection was, making me wince. "Here's the inserted tissue, Mr. Danik," he pointed out, "Just like you said."

_No, _I thought, _No, this isn't happening right now._

"Thank you, Larson," Danik thanked him, "I'll take it from here." Suddenly, he grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked it, pulling my head up and sending pain shooting through my neck.

"YAH!" I yelped, trying to pull away, but to no avail.

"Timmy!" Alex shouted, but the other soldiers were quick to grab her again to prevent her from running over to me.

"So," Danik said, letting go of my hair, "_You're _the one that caused all that trouble for Dr. Mercer on the _Ishimura_." This time, he reached for his pistol and hit me across the head, making me feel like my skull had just split in two. I groaned as I collapsed to the ground, worried I was going to start seeing stars after that.

"_Fuck!_" I cursed under my breath, the pain becoming more and more unbearable each second.

"How disappointing," Danik lamented, "Given your reputation, I expected more fight from you."

"Then stop using me as your punching bag, asshole!" I hissed.

Right after I said that, the solider Danik had addressed as Larson kicked me in the side, and I tried not to wince in pain.

"Since you're sadly still amongst the living," the leader of the Circle replied, "I assume you heard everything I was telling Isaac before. As his accomplice, you should be well aware of the fact that he has to die, and it's time for you to finally embrace the gift Dr. Mercer has given you."

"Gift?" I echoed incredulously, "_Gift? _That infection was not a gift! You don't know what the hell you're talking about!"

"Oh, you couldn't be more mistaken, Timothy," Danik said, "You've been _handed _a ticket into the next stage of evolution, and I don't know too many people that can boast about that. What you were given is one of the highest honors imaginable, and you've done nothing but reject it like the ungrateful heretic you are." He reached for his pistol and loaded a few more bullets into it while I just stared at him in disbelief, processing everything he was telling me. _A gift, _I thought, _I can't believe he actually thinks the Necromorph tissue is a gift! _

"No," I whispered, "No, you've got it all wrong, Danik!"

"Perhaps if we give Miss Adams the honor of joining this cycle first, you'll start to see things my way," Danik continued, and soon, the other soldiers were dragging Alex over to where we were.

"No!" I cried, though no matter how much I fought back, Larson continued to restrain me. Alex put up a pretty good fight, though one of the soldiers eventually grabbed her wrist and twisted it, nearly breaking it.

"God damn it!" I snapped, "_Let her go_!"

Danik stepped away from me and approached Alex instead, that smug smile crossing his face again.

"Hello, Alexandra," he began, cocking his head to the side, "Nice to finally meet you."

"Wish I could say the same," Alex hissed, glaring at the Unitologist in front of us and earning a shove in the shoulder from the soldier holding her.

Danik clucked his tongue and just shook his head. "How unfortunate that you threw away such a promising future in the Church. The Black Marker had a special plan for you, you know. You were saved from a miserable existence as an infidel and you chose to turn your back on Michael Altman."

"I'd rather be an infidel than a Unitologist again," Alex responded, "I should have listened to my parents. They never wanted me involved in all that."

"Oh, I'm well aware of the fact that your family was filled with heretics. A liability to eliminate. That was the first step in the Church's plans for you."

_Huh? _I thought, glancing over at Alex as she, too, turned pale and adopted a confused expression on her face. "What's _that _supposed to mean?" she spat.

But Danik merely glanced down at the watch on his RIG. "Oh, look at the time," he said, "We're finished here. Kill them quickly and let's go. I'm sure our friend, Isaac, has long since moved on by now." He raised his gun and pointed it at Alex, but before he could make a move, she managed to break free and knock the weapon to the side as it went off, missing her and instead firing a bullet into the floor. That was my cue to start fighting back as well.

Larson grabbed me again, but this time, I turned around and fought him off, elbowing him in the side as I reached for his pistol. While I did that, I suddenly heard a gunshot from behind me, followed by Danik yelping, and I whirled around in time to see the Unitologist clutching his hand and dropping his gun. I flicked my gaze from him to Alex, who was aiming a gun she had picked up in his direction, and judging by the smoke seeping from the barrel, I realized she had just _shot him in the hand_!

"Mr. Danik!" Larson yelled, running over to his leader.

While they were preoccupied, I aimed my new gun at the ceiling and took out the lights, leaving the room pitch black and in a state of panic. "Come on!" I shouted at Alex, who remained standing where she was, stunned at what she had just done. I reached for her hand and grabbed it, pulling her along as we headed towards the hole Isaac had fallen down before.

"Don't just stand there!" Danik shouted, "Shoot them!"

Alex jumped down first, and I followed suit as we barely dodged a new wave of bullets. After falling for what felt like minutes, we landed on a pile of corpses just as, to our immense relief, Isaac was finally coming around, groaning as he sat up and clutched his head. He backed up against the wall, pushing another body in the area that was visible to Danik and his soldiers, and catching on quickly, Alex and I did the same. We proceeded to huddle close to the engineer, waiting with bated breaths and hoping that the others would think we were dead _again_.

"I think we got 'em this time, Mr. Danik," we heard Larson announce from up above, "They had to get shot by at least a few of those bullets."

"They better have," Danik replied, "And if not, we'll kill them ourselves."

It was torture to wait, but eventually, the noise upstairs died down, the sound of shuffling feet reaching our ears as Danik and his soldiers exited the room. Everything was silent again, allowing us to breathe a collective sigh of relief. Since the coast was now clear, we were free to get up and try to find a way to escape. _I guess we should be glad Danik didn't think to just shoot us outright instead of talking our ears off, _I thought.

I gritted my teeth as the pounding headache returned, and I massaged the side of my head where Danik had struck me with his pistol. All I could think about was his disturbing lecture from a few minutes ago, which made me feel sick to the stomach. It reminded me of how Mercer had gotten angry and then proceeded to harass me the entire time I was stuck on the _Ishimura _after I had refused to be a part of his twisted experiments.

"Jesus," Isaac groaned, "You guys all right? When I was waking up just now, all I heard were gunshots and screaming. What the hell happened up there?"

Alex glanced up from her new gun as she sighed and then took some deep breaths to calm down. "Danik tried to kill us," she explained in a shaky voice, "Even had a gun pointed at Timmy's head when his back was turned to him. That's why I shot him." She closed her eyes and looked away, clearly still in shock that she had nearly killed another human. Fighting Necromorphs was one thing, but almost taking a human life was a completely different story.

"You did?" Isaac asked.

"Just in the hand," Alex said, nodding, "And I can bet you anything that he's going to be even _more _pissed at us now."

"You should have heard the things he said to us after he tried to kill you," I added, "Did you know that _this _was apparently a gift from Mercer?" I rolled up my sleeve again, and after Isaac glanced at the infection, he just sighed and face-palmed himself.

"Why am I not surprised that he thinks that?" he mumbled.

"I was so scared he was gonna completely beat the crap out of Timmy," Alex spoke up again, "And then he brought up my family." She clenched her fist and squeezed her eyes shut tight.

"What did he mean by what he said about them?" she asked quietly, even though it was clearly a rhetorical question, "They were killed in a tram accident. I was _there_! The Church _couldn't _have been responsible for that!"

I just glanced at her and sighed sadly, but before any of us could say anything else, a banging noise on the glass window across from us grabbed our attention.

"The hell?" I whispered under my breath.

Isaac rolled onto solid ground first, the two of us following closely behind him. I brushed myself off, relieved to not be lying on a pile of corpses just as a shadow caught my eye. When I picked my head up, I froze for a second, catching sight of where the shadow was coming from.

On the other side was a Necromorph, but not like any of the ones we had seen before. This one looked more human, was slightly taller than both me and Isaac combined, and was dressed in a thick jacket, pants, and boots. It carried a pickaxe in its hands, which it was now using to try and break the window.

And the creepiest part, I thought, were its eyes and mouth, which were glowing a sick, yellow color. "Guys?" Alex asked nervously, "Have we ever faced this Necromorph before?"

"Nope," Isaac answered.

"I was afraid you were gonna say that," she mumbled.

The three of us raised our weapons, carefully backing away from the window as the new Necromorph continued to slam the pickaxe against the glass, creating a bigger crack with every swing.

"So I guess this is it, Isaac," I piped up, remembering something I had said to him way back on the _Sprawl, _"Round Three."

With a roar, the Necromorph swung the pickaxe one more time, completely shattering the window as it stumbled towards us, Isaac aiming his Plasma Cutter right at the limbs the whole time.

"Round Three."


	5. Chapter Four: Uncharted Waters

All right! Thanks again to everyone who's been reading, reviewing, favoriting, and alerting this story! So far, it's been fun to write, and without further ado, here's the next chapter! :D

**DISCLAIMER: **Only my OCs, plot ideas, and slight changes from the original game are mine. Everything else belongs to Visceral Games/EA.

* * *

"How many _more _of these things are there?" Alex shouted over the gunfire as we finished disposing of the first Necromorph that had broken through the window. Up ahead, there was one more lumbering towards us, and as soon as the two of us pumped enough lead into it, the upper half of its body exploded, leaving only a few tentacles in its place.

"_What the hell?_" I gasped as I dodged the projectiles it was now trying to shoot at me. The first one with the pickaxe hadn't done that, so why was _this _one changing?

"Keep shooting!" Isaac yelled, rotating the Plasma Cutter as he aimed it at the tentacles. The pistol I had picked up was strong, but I still found myself missing my flamethrower from the _Sprawl_.

Eventually, I ran out of bullets, causing me to step back and reload while Isaac and Alex finished off the second Necromorph. Once the lower part of its body _sans _tentacles finally collapsed, we stopped to take a deep breath to steel ourselves.

"Jesus," I mumbled, "That's new. Never saw a Necromorph like that before."

"Keep your guard up," Isaac advised, "There may be more like that around here."

"I'd rather not stick around to find out. Let's get out of here."

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Isaac turned out to be right; on the other side of the room, we spotted more of those Necromorphs, though this time, they were wielding batons as they barreled towards us. "Looks like they're just wasting away, right?" Alex asked as she took in their rotting skin, and both of us nodded at her.

"We've given nicknames to all the other ones we've faced," Isaac quipped, "Let's call these ones Wasters, then."

_Wasters, _I thought, _Somehow, that's a pretty fitting nickname. _

I pointed my gun at the Waster trying to attack me and opened fire, backing up from the tentacles that continued to try and slash at me. Next to Isaac, Alex ducked out of the way and then whirled around in time to shoot at another one trying to sneak up on her from behind. Once they were all taken care of, we reloaded our weapons and hurried over to the elevator in the corner. A foul odor hung in the air, and combined with the heat blasting throughout the room, I felt my stomach turn and my head pound again. I even grabbed onto a side door for support to steady myself as I suddenly felt light-headed.

"You okay, Timmy?" Isaac asked as he stopped in his tracks to glance at me.

I shook my head. "I think I'm gonna be sick," I groaned, "And I feel a little dizzy."

Isaac frowned, stepping forward and lifting some of my hair away to check out the right side of my head. "There's a lump forming here," he pointed out, "Did you get that from Danik?"

I winced at more than just the pain. "Yeah. He actually hit me pretty hard with that pistol." I closed my eyes and massaged the lump.

"Ahh, shit," the engineer cursed under his breath, "Let's get to the elevator so we can get out of here. We've gotta get in touch with Norton and Carver again." He led us both into the elevator, and as he pressed the button to go down, I happened to glance over at his head, where he was sporting a similar bump to mine. Dried blood ran down the side of his face.

"My God," I whispered, "Isaac, the side of your head-"

"I know," he interrupted me, "It looks pretty bad, huh? I must have landed on that side first when I fell."

"I might have something for that," Alex piped up, "I managed to swipe this from one of the Circle soldiers upstairs." She passed us a small med pack, which we split between the two of us to quickly rub over our injuries.

"This is good for now until we find more supplies," Isaac said, "Thanks, Alex."

"Yeah, thanks a lot," I chimed in, smiling at her, "And thanks for helping me out with Danik." She blushed, but before she could say anything else, we heard our RIGs go off.

"_Isaac!_" Norton cried, "_Have you and the others reached the extraction team yet?_"

"All dead," Isaac replied, "Danik got here first."

"_Ahh, fuck. Then find a way out of the city. We're coming in with the Eudora._"

"Washington Station's not far. We can ride one of the trains out."

"_Good plan! See you on the tracks!_" With that, Norton signed off just as the elevator doors opened again, and I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. Hey, it beat being scared, right?

"Was that Norton actually _complimenting _us?" I asked.

"Sounded like it," Alex spoke up, "That's the first nice thing I've heard him say since we met him."

Falling silent again, we hurried through the streets, taking note of the lockdown around us and trying to block out the screams from various people in the vicinity. It was like the _Ishimura_ and the _Sprawl _all over again, and I still couldn't believe Danik had actually released a Marker here. If he had done the same thing on all the other colonies, then the entire _galaxy _must have been infested with Necromorphs!

And without anyone there to shut them down, those artifacts were allowed to attempt to achieve Convergence unhindered. The thought made me depressed, and I sighed as I shook my head.

As the three of us plowed our way through more Necromorphs that were trying to attack us, it occurred to me that we _still _didn't know what Convergence exactly was. All I remembered from the incident on Titan Station was that Daina had wanted to spread it and that the Marker had tried to force Isaac to kill himself to complete it, but there had never been a concrete definition of the event. Alex had said she had picked up some inside information on the Church. Maybe she could make a guess, though I knew now wasn't the right time to ask her. Not after what had happened with Danik.

We eventually made it to Washington Station, glancing around in relief as we noticed there weren't any Necromorphs here. "Damn it," Isaac hissed, "No trains."

I craned my neck to take a good look at our surroundings. In the middle was a black and yellow striped turntable, an engine with the number "1" painted on it, a fuel car with the number "2", and passenger cars on the other side of the tunnel, waiting to be connected. When I focused on the fuel car again, I noticed a very familiar-looking blue and white symbol on the front. _Huh, _I thought, _That looks like the Kinesis symbol. _

"I think I know where this is going," I muttered to myself.

"Okay, we made it to the train station," Isaac announced into his RIG.

"_What about Danik's men?_" Norton asked.

"We lost them in the panic. This outbreak may buy us some time."

"Never thought I'd hear you say that," I commented to my friend, and he just nodded in agreement.

"_Well, grab a train!_" Norton cried, "_Let's go!_"

"No good," Isaac said, "Looks like the train was getting refitted with a new power car."

"_So?_"

"I'm gonna have to put it back together."

_I knew it! _I thought, snapping my fingers.

"_Well, do it fast! Danik's gunships aren't far off! We'll try to draw them away, then. Be fast._"

Great. So that meant Danik had somehow figured out we were alive.

After ending the transmission, the three of us quickly hurried up to the engine to see if we could move it onto the turntable.

"_Train assembly incomplete,_" a robotic voice announced, "_Please attach engine and fuel car before initiating departure sequence._"

"I saw some lockers in a few of the corners," Isaac said, pointing in almost every direction, "Why don't you guys go look for supplies while I get this train put back together? I don't see any Necromorphs here, and I'm the only one with a Kinesis module right now, so…" He trailed off, shrugging.

"Sure, we can do that," I replied, "It might be a good idea to collect as much as we can while we still have time."

"I just hope we can find bigger med packs," Alex said, and while Isaac went to reassemble the train, the two of us hurried from corner to corner, tearing open any lockers that were unlocked and scooping up stored away med packs, ammo, and even Stasis packs. The whole time, I heard the low humming of Isaac's Kinesis module at work as he moved the engine onto the turntable, waited for it to rotate, and then pushed it into the tunnel just up ahead.

"_The engine is in position. Please attach fuel car before initiating departure sequence._"

I yanked open the last locker, stuffing another small med pack in my pocket and rejoining Alex and Isaac as the latter finished moving the fuel car onto the turntable.

With a loud creak, the contraption turned until the fuel car was connected to both the engine and the passenger cars. The lights in the tunnel lit up and we could hear the engine churning away.

"_All train cars are aligned. Departure sequence initializing. Please board to the rear of the train._"

"All right, Norton," Isaac announced while the train inched further into the tunnel to allow room for us to board, "The train is hooked up and ready to head out the south gate. You can't miss it. It'll be the only thing moving."

"_All right, understood. I'll close in once you've cleared the city. Be ready for pickup. This is going to be tricky._"

"You're telling me!" I retorted, "Look!" I pointed at a door on the opposite side, which burst open just after Isaac ended the call with Norton.

"There they are!" frantic voices cried, "Don't let them get on that train!"

"You're ours now, Marker Traitor!" another one shouted at Isaac.

"Oh, _shit_," the engineer groaned, "Run!"

Fortunately, the caboose-type car managed to reveal itself in time, with a ramp leading into the train, so with little time to spare, the three of us hurried into the car, sealing the door behind us at the train itself continued to travel.

"Whew," Alex sighed, wiping her forehead in relief, "Thank God we got out of there."

"Let's just hope we make it out of this colony alive," I added, leaning my hand against the wall next to me.

Meanwhile, Isaac looked preoccupied, and shaking his head, he pressed a button on his wrist and activated a video RIG, showing Norton's face.

"Norton, you still haven't told us what happened to Ellie," he reminded the Captain.

For some reason, Norton looked annoyed at my friend's mention of the pilot, and almost…genuinely pissed, in a way. "_Now's not the best time, Isaac!_" he huffed. I supposed his semi-cordial attitude couldn't last forever, huh?

"Is she alive?" Isaac pressed insistently.

Norton paused, the tight-lipped frown on his face deepening. "_Last Carver and I saw her was at Keyhole Station,_" he explained, "_She said she was on to something big, shocked out to some secret coordinates, and then we lost contact. If I know your EX-girlfriend very well, she's still alive, and mad as hell we haven't found her yet._"

"That sounds like her, all right," Isaac said to himself, though it was almost in a nostalgic tone of voice.

But something else the Captain said was on my mind instead, which was something that had been bothering me since he and Carver picked us up. "That's the second time you've mentioned the ex-factor, Norton," I piped up, "Why?"

Norton glanced over at me, the frown remaining in place as he replied, "_Because it's a known fact, Stamford. Now get moving so that we can pick you guys up._" He disappeared, the video RIG fading away after Isaac pressed a few more buttons on his wrist. If Norton's emphasis on _ex _bothered him, he did a pretty good job of hiding it.

Working together, the three of us pulled the door to the car open, and as soon as we did, we had to jump back in order to avoid the shower of bullets waiting for us on the other side. "Oh, no," Isaac whispered.

"Damn it!" Alex cursed, "Are you _serious_? Can't these guys give it a rest?"

"Apparently not," Isaac answered, "Come on!"

Up above, a large gunship flew into view, followed by a much smaller one that was trying to shoot rockets at the first one. "_Ahh, here comes the cavalry!_" a voice exclaimed, which I assumed was from Norton and Carver's ship.

"Norton!" Isaac cried, "Which ship is the _Eudora_?"

"_The bigger one that just flew over your head!_"

"There it is!" I pointed out, "Let's get out of here!"

All of a sudden, Circle soldiers jumped onto the train via ropes, and taking their guns out, they aimed them at us.

"There's the girl who shot Danik!" one of them shouted, pointing at Alex, "_Kill her_! And kill the other traitors, too!"

"I told you Danik was gonna be pissed!" Alex yelled, ducking behind a metal crate to take cover as she reloaded her pistol. Isaac and I split up and tried to avoid the soldiers, too, though it was proving to be increasingly difficult the closer we got to the two ladders up ahead.

Eventually we made it, with Isaac climbing up one of the ladders while Alex and I took the other. Unfortunately, more Unitologists jumped onto the train, though some of them lost their footing the minute the whole thing rocked back and forth. Screams reached my ears, and I tried not to listen to them as I sprinted forwards, making sure not to lose sight of Isaac and Alex in the chaos. Suddenly, another rocket hit the side of the _Eudora_, knocking it down and causing it to dip dangerously close to the tracks.

"_Ahh, shit!_" Norton cursed, "_Lost the main battery! You three, get your asses up here!_"

"We're trying!" I shouted, "We'll be there as soon as we can!"

After climbing down another set of ladders, we hurried over to the other side, climbing up once more and barely missing the gunfire coming from somewhere behind us.

"They're getting away!" a voice whined.

"They're heading for the edge of the engine!" someone else chimed in, "Cut them off!"

Two more soldiers jumped and rolled right onto the engine to try and stop us from reaching the _Eudora_, and I heard Alex scream she barely dodged a bullet that nearly struck her in her left thigh. "Alex!" I cried, running over to her while our RIGs crackled with static.

"_It's now or never, guys!_" Norton told us, "_Come on!_"

In the distance, a hatch opened, and after helping Alex up, we ran as fast as we could, dodging the soldiers trying to kill us.

"We're gonna have to jump!" Isaac yelled, "Can you guys make it?"

"We'll try!" I said to him, "Are you okay enough to make the first jump, Alex?"

"I'll try," she insisted, "I can do it."

But time was running out, as evidenced by the second crackling of all our RIGs, followed by a familiar voice we didn't want to hear. "_Level the train!_" we all heard Danik command from somewhere inside his own ship, "_I want nothing left!_"

"Shit!" Isaac cursed, "Hurry up!"

Alex backed up while I hurriedly crouched down and folded my hands together, ready to give her the boost she needed to jump and get onto the _Eudora_. After she gave herself enough distance, she sprinted towards me, pitched herself forward, and managed to barely grab onto the ramp.

For a second, Alex dangled off the side, struggling to hold on and nearly slipping a few times before Carver finally appeared and helped pull her to safety. "Clarke, Stamford!" he yelled at us, "Come on!"

A whirring above our heads increased in volume, Larson's voice sounding out over the din. "_Missiles locked!_" he announced, "_Launch in five…four…three…two…one_!"

"Timmy! Isaac!" Alex screamed.

Isaac and I both jumped at the same time as a flash of light appeared next to us and nearly blinded us, the engine and fuel car suffering extensive damage from the attack. A loud explosion rang out, but fortunately, we both managed to grab onto the hatch, and Alex extended her hand to me, working to help pull me up while Carver did the same for Isaac. To my horror, the engineer almost lost his grip, but the soldier steadied him, using all his strength to finally get him safely on the ship.

"Captain!" he shouted, "I've got them! Take us out of here now!"

The four of us quickly scrambled inside to allow room for the hatch to close, and I felt my back hit the wall and myself lose consciousness as the _Eudora _finally shocked out of the system, taking us as far away from New Horizons and Danik as possible.

* * *

There were some things in life that I didn't want to revisit if I could help it. The images flitting in and out of my mind ever since I had blacked out a little while ago were some of them.

Most of them were of my time spent on the _Ishimura_, taking me back to locations, people, and events I could remember as if it was yesterday: Kendra's betrayal, Hammond's death, Kyne trying to help us before his death as well, and worst of all…

Mercer.

All I could see was the scientist hovering over me with a knife and a sample of the Necromorph tissue in his hands as he prepared to infect me with it. Back then, I had zero knowledge of Unitology, Necromorphs, Markers, and everything else, which had made the experience all the more horrifying. Presumably, he was planning to turn me into a regenerating Necromorph not unlike the Hunter, and even though I hated him for what he had done to me, I had to admit that I was curious about how the infection was going to end up affecting me in the long run.

_Damn you, Danik, _I thought to myself as I struggled to push all that away. I had worked so hard-both in my home world and here-to keep those memories and thoughts at bay, but Danik's claim that my infection was a gift caused all of that to resurface, and it was hard not to make the mental leap to Mercer anytime I thought about Unitology. The Circle leader had been right about one thing, though; I _had_ rejected several offers to join the Church, between escaping from Mercer's experiments and turning down Daina's proposal for me to become a walking advertisement for Unitology. And it seemed like the more I resisted them, the more determined they were to make me change my mind, if Danik's words were anything to go by. _They should just quit trying, _I thought, _Because I'm not changing my mind anytime soon. And I doubt Alex and Isaac will, either. _

With that in mind, I finally managed to open my eyes, blinking a few times as I sat up and stretched my arms over my head. In the process, I took a look around, noticing that Alex was nowhere to be found and that Isaac was sleeping on a bench next to me. The gash on the side of his head had taken a turn for the worse after the harrowing escape from the train, and I knew he was going to need something a lot stronger to treat it.

At the same time, I couldn't help but admire the clean conditions of the _Eudora_, especially after living in the filth that was Earthrise Apartments for three years. Compared to the _Ishimura_ and the various other ships I had traveled in, this one was like a five-star hotel. _Nice ride, Norton, _I couldn't help but think to myself.

While Isaac continued to sleep next to me, I decided to get up and stretch my legs for a little bit, strolling around one of the _Eudora's _many spacious rooms. Alex's bag that she had taken to Nebula with her, along with her pistol, were lying on a side table, and I figured she couldn't have wandered too far. It wasn't like there were that many places to go on this ship.

Eventually, I found an audio RIG right across from me, and after looking around briefly, I approached it and read the label.

"_Eudora Life_," I said to myself. If Norton and Carver were on Ellie's mission with her, perhaps this had some information about what she was up to during the three months since she had left New Horizons. And if she really discovered something about the Marker, then maybe there was a way to stop those artifacts altogether. I would definitely take that over another outbreak anytime.

In fact, I was so curious about what she might have found that I didn't think twice about pressing the Play Button.

"_Recorded message playback,_" a female voice announced, but the one that followed next wasn't what I was expecting at all.

"_Hey, look, I'm on patrol. Make this quick, all right?_"

"_Carver?_" I whispered in surprise.

"_It's his birthday!_" a woman replied in a somewhat exasperated tone.

"_Ahh, shit,_" Carver cursed under his breath.

"_Is that Dad?_" a younger-sounding boy asked excitedly, "_Thanks for the present, Dad! When are you coming home?_"

Dad? Was this a recording of a conversation with his wife and son? _I didn't know he had a family, _I thought to myself, _Then again, I only just met the man a couple of hours ago_.

"_Soon,_" Carver promised.

"_Okay! I love you, Dad!_" his son responded, "_Who wants to play soldiers?_"

"_You gave him a soldier?_" Carver questioned, sounding horrified for some reason.

"_John, he idolizes you!_" his wife replied.

"_Well, you better get that idea out of his head, Damara. You got that? I've gotta go. I love you._"

"What do you think you're doing?"

I jumped, hurriedly hitting the Stop button on the side as a familiar voice reached my ears. "Carver!" I gasped as I spotted the soldier emerging from a bathroom in the corner, "Damn, you scared me!"

"Why the hell were you listening to that?" he demanded, glaring at me. I just stared back and planted my feet firmly on the ground, refusing to let myself be intimidated by him.

"I'm sorry," I explained, "I didn't know this was yours. I saw the label and thought it was about Ellie and her mission. Honest!"

"You should have stopped playing it when you realized it wasn't that," Carver snapped, "What's on that tape was _none _of your business."

I had no idea why he was getting so bent out of shape over a simple recording of a conversation with his family, and I bit my lower lip as I tried to think of what to say next. My natural instinct was to jump on the defensive like I had done in the past, but ever since my brief falling out with Isaac back on the _Sprawl_, I had been trying my best to curb that habit.

"Look," I said, "I know I'm not your favorite person, but-"

"Save it, Stamford," Carver interrupted me, "Whatever it is, I don't need to hear it from you. If you need something to do, though, go find yourself an EVA suit. Through that door and down the hallway. Where we're going, you'll probably need one. Adams should be there, too."

I just frowned at the soldier as I backed away from him and shook my head. _Christ, _I thought, _What is his problem? _I wanted to ask him what the deal was with his family, but at the same time, I didn't want him to think I was trying to pry into his personal life again. Maybe I could apply the same logic here like I did for Isaac: to wait for him to talk about it whenever he was ready.

Granted, I didn't think he would ever confide in me about anything on his mind, but all I could do was try.

"Thanks," I replied, trying my best to keep the edge out of my voice, "But just to set the record straight, I really wasn't trying to get in your business. Hard to believe, I know, but I actually mean it this time."

Without waiting for a response, I turned to head towards the hallway Carver had pointed out, but not before watching him face away from me and approach the audio log. Taking a deep breath, he rewound the tape and pressed the Play button again, his wife and son's voices pouring through the speakers once more.

* * *

"There you are, Timmy!" Alex cried as soon as I found the hallway where the EVA suits were located, "Here, come pick out a suit. They're all the same right now, so there isn't much of a choice."

I stepped back to take in her attire as she said all this. Instead of the tank top, crop jacket, and jeans she had worn to the club, she now sported a white and gray jumpsuit with a black and gray retractable helmet. She rested one of her feet on the bench next to her in order to finish fixing her boots, and while she did that, I went to grab another suit just like hers.

"Not bad, right?" she asked once I held it in my hands and examined it.

"This looks like the suit Norton was wearing," I replied, "Must be a specially made EarthGov RIG."

I took the one I was carrying back to the bench in order to slip it on while talking to Alex at the same time. I hadn't manually changed into a suit since Kyne had provided me with one on the _Ishimura_, so it took a little bit for me to pull it on over my regular clothes. "So now that we actually have some time to catch our breaths," I spoke up, "Are you doing okay? After what Danik said to you?"

Alex shrugged, finishing her work on the first boot and then moving onto the other one. "Honestly? I don't know _how_ to feel right now. Between this mission and what Danik said back on the colony…" She trailed off, sighed, and then shook her head as she glanced up at me again.

"I don't even want to think about it. It took me so long to accept what happened to my family, and then to get this bomb dropped on me, I…I…" She buried her face into her now gloved hands, and I heard a quiet sob as I wrapped my arm around her. For a few minutes, we sat in silence until she eventually stopped crying, picked her head up again, and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Maybe he was bluffing," I told her in an attempt to make her feel better, "Maybe he pulled those words out of his ass just to make you feel bad about leaving the Church." I didn't know how much of that I believed, but it almost sounded convincing even to me.

"I _hope _that's all it was," Alex replied, sniffling a little bit, "I would rather have what happened to my family just be an accident. Anyway, what about _you_? I mean, Danik freakin' clobbered you over the head! And scolding you over trying to get rid of the Necromorph tissue in your arm! You have no idea how badly I wanted to smack him for that one."

As soon as she mentioned that, the pain in the right side of my head returned as the two of us got up to go back to where we had first woken up. "I'm fine," I assured her, "More determined than ever to get rid of this infection, though. I don't care what Danik says; it's _not _a gift and I don't want it anymore."

"I'm with you on that one," she said in response, "Maybe whatever Ellie found can also help cure your infection. That's what I'm hoping for, anyway."

And after that, we fell silent the rest of the way, wrapping our arms around each other as we continued to retrace our steps.

Fortunately, Isaac was finally starting to come around by the time we got back, and we watched as he fully sat up and glanced over at Carver, who was seated on the bench I had woken up on as he stared at a picture clutched in his hands. I noticed his facial expression appeared to be a mix of sadness and regret, and that he seemed to have calmed down a bit from earlier, too.

"Who's that?" the engineer asked in a raspy voice.

Carver looked away as he pocketed the photograph. "My boy," he whispered, and I looked away as I remembered the recording I had heard before.

"Cute kid," Isaac replied, "You leave him behind?"

"He's _dead_," Carver explained in a sharp tone, "Danik killed him. And his mother."

I gasped, covering my mouth as I took in this new piece of information. So _that _was why he had gotten so upset before! _Poor Carver, _I thought, feeling bad for him even though he wasn't my favorite person. Unlike Alex, I didn't know what it was like to lose my entire family, but I could imagine it wasn't something easy to live with.

"I'm sorry," Isaac apologized quietly.

Carver scoffed, getting up and reaching for his gun. "Yeah, well, don't be. We're not friends." _Sounds a lot like what he told me, _I thought, _I guess he's blunt with everyone, especially after what happened to his family. _In a way, I couldn't blame him for being so bitter.

Isaac looked away, not knowing what to say at first before facing him again. "Well, thanks for the rescue back there-"

"Try harder next time," the soldier scolded, immediately going back to his no-nonsense attitude.

"_Carver!_" we suddenly heard Norton shout over the intercom, "_Isaac and the others awake yet?_"

"Yeah!" Carver replied.

"_Good, we're almost there. Get your asses to the bridge_."

After Norton disappeared, Carver gestured towards the door with his gun. "You heard the man." He grabbed the rest of his things and made his way over to the exit just as I reached out to stop him.

"Carver," I began, but he ignored me, shaking his head and pushing past me to get to the bridge.

Alex silently reached down and grabbed her pistol, though I could see it on her face, that she was sad for the soldier after hearing his story, too, especially after the incident with Danik on the colony.

"Where'd you two get those?" Isaac asked, pointing at both of our EVA suits once he got his bearings.

"Down the hallway," Alex told him, "There may be more in store if you want to go look."

"The Captain wants us all on the bridge now," Carver spoke up as he poked his head back in the doorway, "Clarke, you can go get it later."

"Or not," Isaac muttered, sighing, "Let's just go see what Norton wants first." He shook his head and gestured towards the door as well, and the three of us set off to follow Carver to the bridge. I had no idea where in the galaxy we were going, but I figured all that would be explained to us in due time.

Although we were not ready to de-shock yet, I peered out the window at the swirling purple vortex we were traveling through as Norton appeared on the intercom again. "_All right, everyone, listen up! Thirteen days ago, Agent Ellie Langford and her team attempted a blind shock to an uncharted planet that she believes holds the secret to stopping this Marker epidemic. But, we've been unable to make contact. Our number one priority is finding and securing Agent Langford and her team._" At these words, Isaac adopted a worried expression on his face that eventually disappeared a few seconds later as we made it to the bridge at last.

"She's okay," he kept whispering to himself, "You've got nothing to worry about, Isaac. She's okay."

Up ahead, Norton paced back and forth with his hands folded behind his back, and I could have sworn I saw him shoot an impatient glare at the engineer before facing forward again. _Hmm, _I thought, placing a hand on my chin as I studied the Captain.

"Fifteen seconds to target," one of the pilots in the cockpit announced.

"Standing by to de-shock," the other pilot added as she hurried to take her seat.

"All right, people," Norton said, "We're going in blind, so stay tight on that exit vector. Rosen, count it out!"

The first pilot, Rosen, pressed a few buttons on a panel in front of him. "Exit beacon locked. De-shocking in five…four…three…two…one."

With a lurch, the ship finally de-shocked, leaving the purple vortex from earlier as the vacuum of space greeted us once more. Up ahead was a celestial body that reminded me of Earth's moon, even though it looked like large chunks of it had been broken off, especially on the side facing away from us. "What the hell is that?" Isaac mumbled.

"A moon," Norton answered, "Or what's left of one."

"Jesus," Alex whispered from next to me, "How did it just get wrecked like that?"

Nobody had an answer for that, but up ahead, we watched as a large piece of debris flew towards us. "Rosen!" Norton gasped.

"I see it!" the pilot snapped in response, veering us out of its path. Alex leaned over the railing in front of us as she continued to study the moon, frowning in the process.

"What is it, Alex?" I asked her.

The frown on her face only deepened, and she opened her mouth as if she were about to say something, but then thought better of it. "Nothing," she replied, "Nothing at all."

Down below must have been the planet, and judging by what I could see, the atmosphere was filled with clouds not unlike planet Earth, and the surface looked to be completely covered in white. Surrounding us was a flotilla of different ships, most of them looking worse for the wear and probably having their own stories to tell not unlike the _Ishimura_.

"Christ," I heard Isaac pipe up from behind me, "This place is a junkyard!"

"More like a graveyard," Carver chimed in.

"Maybe both," I said, "Who knows _what _happened here?"

"Any sign of Ellie's ship?" Norton asked.

The female pilot, whose nametag read Locke, leaned forward in her seat as she examined the screens in front of her. "I'm reading several transponders," she reported, "But none of them are ours. According to the registry, they're Sovereign Colonies warships!"

The others gasped whereas I didn't have much of a reaction. Despite everything I had experienced and learned about here, I realized there was still so much about the past that I wasn't aware of, the Sovereign Colonies being one of those things. What part did they play in all this?

"You serious?" Rosen spluttered, "They'd be over 200 years old-"

"Wait, wait, I'm getting something!" Locke interrupted him, "It's an SOS coming from that ship dead ahead: the _CMS Roanoke_."

I couldn't help but chuckle to myself under my breath. _Roanoke_, I thought, _Such an ironic name_.

"It could be Ellie," Isaac said.

"Yeah," Norton piped up, "Let's hope so. All right, Rosen, close to 500 Klicks."

"Aye, sir," Rosen replied, sounding less than thrilled. He pulled the ship further into the flotilla, where a row of flashing lights suddenly greeted us.

"Wait, what are those?" I asked, pointing at them as more and more seemed to just appear out of nowhere.

Norton frowned as he studied them as well. "Those lights…are they beacons?"

Locke shook her head, gasping as she realized exactly what they were. "Hang on…no, _mines!_"

"Wait, _what_?" Alex shrieked from next to me.

"Rosen, get us out of here!" Norton shouted.

But by the time Rosen tried to steer us out of the way, the first mine hit the hull of the _Eudora_, followed by several more as the windows cracked and the ship shook. The entire bridge burst into flames, the oxygen inside the ship igniting everything and kicking up smoke. "_Shit!_" I cursed, coughing and trying to wave away the plumes surrounding me and Alex.

"Clear the bridge!" Norton shouted, "Clear! Move! _Move! God damn it, move!_"

I pushed Alex towards Carver, and the two of them hurried back out the way we had come in while Isaac reached for my hand and grabbed it, helping to pull me up and away from some flames melting the railing I had been leaning on.

"Come on, Timmy!" he yelled, "This way!"

Covering our noses, we hurried out of the room as Rosen and Locke sprinted through another exit, though I heard a horrible crunching sound just on the way out.

"AHH!" Rosen screamed, "My leg!"

_Damn, _I thought, wondering what the hell had happened and whether or not we would live to find out. Soon, Isaac and I ran into the others, and I nearly lost my footing after another mine struck the side of the ship.

Up ahead, Norton was trying to figure out a way to secure the air-tight box in front of us, but seemed to be having trouble. "Isaac! Carver!" he yelled, "God damn it, someone give me a hand here!"

"Here!" Isaac cried, grabbing a flashlight and tossing it to Norton, "Grab some of that paneling and seal up that doorway!"

"What can we do?" I asked, raising my voice over the noise.

"You can help him," Isaac told me, "Between all of you, it'll take less time to close it off."

For a second, the Captain looked incredulous, and then he scoffed. "Since when are _you _giving the orders?" he spat.

"Since nobody else has a fucking plan!" the engineer snapped, "Look, I'll explain as I go!" He then faced the rest of our group.

"Carver, Alex! Where can I find an EVA suit?"

_Boom! _Another mine collided with the ship, and I covered my head to shield myself from a few stray sparks. "Guys!" Isaac yelled.

"Down that way!" Carver explained.

"You go with him, Timmy!" Alex suggested, "We'll help Norton with the paneling!" I nodded as Carver waved us on, and the two of us took off down the hallway, dodging falling debris and fire.

_Boom!_ One more mine struck the window closest to us, and it must have hit an unseen switch for gravity control, for all of a sudden, the ship lurched upward, flipping both me and Isaac upside down and leaving us feeling weightless.

"_Hull Breach. Gravity offline._"

The zero-g environment didn't last long, though. About a few seconds later, something righted itself, and although the _Eudora _now completely listed to port, every loose item in the vicinity clattered to the floor, making both of us hit the ground hard. "Ow!" I gasped as something pinched me near my shoulder blade, and when I reached over with my hand, I cursed as I pulled out a triangular piece of glass that was embedded in my skin. Although it hurt like hell, this felt like a minor paper cut in comparison to being impaled with a spear on the _Sprawl_.

"You all right?" Isaac cried.

"I'm fine, it's nothing!" I insisted, "Just keep moving!"

Without wasting another minute, we stumbled towards the malfunctioning doors up ahead, which still looked like there was room for a fully grown human to squeeze through, which we did. Now, I could feel some blood starting to leak from the fresh wound, so I grabbed a med pack and hurriedly placed a thick patch over the injury.

"Jesus, Timmy," Isaac said as he hurriedly slipped into an available suit, "That doesn't look good. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah," I quipped, "But don't worry, I'm-"

Suddenly, the door next to us flew open, and I felt my throat close up as the vacuum outside sucked all the air out of the room. Isaac's mouth dropped open in a silent scream as he scrambled to reach for a spare helmet that had been blown into space. Meanwhile, I struggled to find the button to put up my own helmet, all while I was scared my lungs would rupture.

_Exhale, _I told myself, _Exhale, damn it! _

And with that, I breathed out as much as I could, finding the helmet button at last, and I sighed with relief as it covered my head, securing my face and my neck from the airless environment outside.

"_The room's sealed! What now?_" Norton asked from his end, and I assumed he and the others were outside the ship by now, too.

"Timmy and I are gonna try and free it from here!" Isaac shouted in response once he got his bearings straight, "Rosen, Locke, brace yourselves! Once we release the clamps, it's gonna blow us clear of the _Eudora_! Everyone find something to hang on to!"

There was a handlebar on the side, which I reached for while I checked to make sure everything was in place. Because I was wearing a space suit, I realized that like Isaac, I now had a Kinesis module as well, which I used to move one of the clamps to the side while the engineer took the other one. "Ready, guys?" I asked through my RIG.

"_Ready!_" Carver, Norton, and Alex cried in unison.

"Okay, here we go!" Isaac announced, "One…two…three!"

I felt my stomach drop out from underneath me as the box suddenly accelerated away from the _Eudora_, but all I could concentrate on was the sudden bubbling sensation in my shoulder that I knew had nothing to do with the sudden reduction in pressure.


	6. Chapter Five: Lost and Found

All right, here we go with the next chapter of "Journey into Darkness"! I'm sorry this took so long to post, but I hope you guys enjoy it all the same! Thank you again to everyone who's been reading, reviewing, favoriting, and alerting this story! I really appreciate it! :)

**DISCLAIMER: **Only my OCs, plot ideas, and changes from the original game are mine. Everything else belongs to Visceral Games/EA.

* * *

Although I couldn't hear the explosion coming from the _Eudora_, I knew it had happened, judging from the white light that surrounded us. It was eerie thinking about how no matter what occurred in space, everything still resulted in the same thing-silence.

I continued to lose my grip on the handlebar the faster the box moved, and eventually, I was forced to let go after another flash of light blinded me. As soon as it cleared away, I moved my hand back to my side in time to see the box spinning away from me without any intention of slowing down. How could it in an environment like this?

Once I got my bearings again, I took note of a large piece of debris floating towards me, and I hurried to get out of its path while trying to find the others.

"_Timmy!_" Isaac cried over the RIG, "_Where are you?_"

"Trying not to end up like a bug on a windshield!" I shouted, narrowing my eyes, "Wait! I think I see you! Is that you flying over towards the box? Up ahead?"

"_Yeah! I'll slow down a little so that you can catch up!_"

Another piece of debris sailed past me in the opposite direction, and once it disappeared, I spotted Isaac, who waved me over so that we could keep going. The further we traveled, the more this reminded me of a similar flight we had taken from Titan Station's Solar Array.

"_I can't slow it down!_" Norton cried from his end, and when I looked up again, I watched as he, Carver, and Alex tried to grab it from all sides.

"_Try to steer towards me and Timmy!_" Isaac replied, "_We can almost reach you!_"

"_Whoa, mines! Mines!_"

"_I'll try and clear some of the mines!_" Alex yelled, her voice sounding a little muffled, "_Isaac, Timmy, be careful._"

"We should be telling you guys that," I said in response, "Just try not to get hit, okay?"

Alex mumbled something before she signed off, and I propelled myself forward, flying around any objects that stood in my way and using my pistol to help Isaac take care of any mines Alex might have missed. The whole time, I hoped that she wouldn't end up getting killed after cheating death so many other times. Although she had managed to survive EarthGov's attack on the Church back on the _Sprawl_, I was forced to realize that she might not be so lucky this time. That didn't just go for Alex, but everyone in our group. It wasn't something I liked to dwell on, but in our situation, death was always around the corner, especially with what we were up against.

"_Isaac, Stamford!_" Norton cried, "_Where are you?_"

"_We're coming!_" Isaac replied as he artfully dodged a large broken pipe, "_Just hang on!_"

I saw a couple of flashes of light up ahead, and I sighed with relief once I saw Alex flying a little over to the left from the others. While Isaac made his way over to the box, I hurried to catch up with her as I managed to quickly get out of the path of more chunks of metal, grabbing her arm so that I wouldn't lose sight of her in the chaos.

"_Hey, watch it!_" Carver snapped, "_Watch it!_"

"_I can't steer around it!_" Norton replied in an equally sharp tone.

"_Then punch through it!_" Isaac piped up.

"_Oh no. Oh no!_"

Out of nowhere, I felt the skin by my shoulder start to bubble again, and a wave of irritation coursed through me as I realized I couldn't just take my helmet off and massage it. Instead, I rotated my neck, hoping maybe that would help in the meantime.

"_Timmy?_" Alex asked, "_What's the matter?_"

"Don't worry about it," I said, though I found it hard to ignore the stinging sensation under my skin.

The _Roanoke _was almost in plain sight now, but Alex and I moved off to the side while the others finally managed to grab the box, spinning in place to try and slow it down.

"_I got it!_" Isaac shouted as he gripped the handlebar I had been holding onto before, "_I got it!_"

"_Get it under control!_" the Captain yelled.

"_I'm full thrusters!_" Carver added, but through their combined efforts, they were able to regain control over the air-tight box. I couldn't imagine how Rosen and Locke felt being thrown around in there right now, and I hoped they weren't banged up too badly.

"_It's slowing!_" Isaac announced.

"_Okay…okay," _Norton sighed in relief,"_There we go." _

"_Jesus, let's not do that again._"

Alex and I quickly made it to the _Roanoke,_ landing on the walkway as I waved Isaac over with my free hand. After getting himself straight, too, he regrouped with us and holstered his Plasma Cutter on his belt.

"_You guys okay?_" he asked, "_That was a close call back there._"

"_We're fine_," Alex assured him, "_Still in one piece, thank God._" I felt my skin bubble again, but I forced myself to focus on the fact that the _Roanoke _looked completely dark on the inside.

"_Good,_" Isaac replied, facing me, "_How about you, Timmy?_"

"I'm okay," I replied, giving him the thumbs up sign, "Now let's see what's going on aboard this ship." Isaac nodded, ushered us forward, and led us over to the _Roanoke _as he got in touch with the others again.

"_Norton! Carver! Can you make it to that cargo dock?_"

"_Yeah,_" Norton answered, "_You think there's air on board?_"

"_After all this, there better be,_" Carver growled.

"_Ellie's SOS is coming from somewhere inside, so let's hope so,_" Isaac quipped.

After flexing my fingers, I flew over to the door, where I spotted a crank surrounded by a purple circle. _Hmm, _I thought as I studied it, _Never saw one of these in this world before. I guess old school methods of opening doors didn't completely die out. _

"_Ugh,_" Norton groaned, "_Looks like the power's out everywhere. There's no way to activate the cargo doors._"

"_I think there's a manual crank on the other door,_" Carver explained, "_Right in front of you, Stamford._"

"Yeah, I see it," I replied, "That's our ticket in."

"_Looks like it can only be powered by Kinesis,_" Isaac added, "_Hang on. I'll see if I can get us inside_." With that, he landed on the walkway behind me and Alex, helpfully using Kinesis to turn the crank and open the door. A thick layer of dust blew into space, which I waved away as we made our way inside at last. Except for the lights shining from our visors, everything else was pitch black. Not even the emergency lights seemed to be working, apparently.

"Well, we've got air," Isaac announced, "And dust."

"_Thank God,_" Norton sighed with relief, "_Any sign of Ellie?_"

"No. Looks like we're the first people through here in a long time. We'll try to open the cargo doors. Hang on."

This time, I was the one that used Kinesis to turn the next crank, which kicked up another thick cloud of dust as we crossed into the next cramped hallway.

God, was the whole _ship _going to be like this? Of course it would be. The _Roanoke _was around two hundred years old, according to Rosen. And what about the other ones floating around?

"_It's…getting hard to breathe,_" Locke suddenly panted from her end once we managed to let the others into the _Roanoke's _cargo dock, "_How much longer?_"

"_We're working as fast as we can,_" Norton assured her.

"_Mark's really pale. I can't stop the bleeding!_" Another chill ran down my spine as I thought back to the crunching noise I had heard on the _Eudora, _making me wonder again what the hell had happened to Rosen's leg.

"_Shit,_" Norton cursed, "_Isaac, you, Stamford, and Adams meet me at the door. I can let you in from here. There! Now, get in here and give me a hand._"

Next to me, Alex whipped out one of the med packs we had collected in Washington Station back on New Horizons. "Maybe I can stay and help Rosen somehow," she said, "And actually put my months of being an intern at the _Sprawl's _hospital to good use this time."

Both Isaac and I remained silent at first, just taking in what she was saying. That was the first time she had talked about anything related to her time spent with the Church since we escaped from Titan Station. "I thought you were done with all that," Isaac eventually commented as we passed through another door.

"I wasn't only assigned to your case, Isaac," Alex explained, "When I wasn't getting information from EarthGov, I was allowed to help treat other patients, mostly so that nobody would suspect anything. Plus, all the times I had to help the kids at Milky Way Elementary School with minor cuts and bruises when we didn't need to send them to the school nurse…"

She fell silent again, trailing off as we finally made our way over to Norton and Carver, who were standing outside the airtight box as they tried to cut it open.

"Isaac, Ellie's SOS is coming from deeper inside this ship, but I can't leave Rosen and Locke," Norton explained.

"Send me the coordinates," Isaac said to him, "I'll go check it out."

After pressing another button on his wrist, Norton resumed cutting the box open again. "Here you go. Don't stray too far. That's an order."

Isaac glanced at his RIG for a second before nodding at Norton. While he did that, I turned around, walked away from the others, and lowered my helmet in order to investigate the bubbling in my shoulder. Closing my eyes and gritting my teeth, I peeled off the now bloody, brown patch covering my cut.

Wait a minute…_brown_?

Sure, my blood was covering the adhesive tape like I expected it to, but what was the other stuff? That wasn't there when I first got hurt. I held the patch closer to me, and when I took a good look at it, I studied the mix of blood and what looked like brown bubbles. They were tinged with a light pink color that reminded me of the Corruption that covered the walls and floors on the _Ishimura _and the _Sprawl_.

The Corruption. The same exact substance that was now currently living inside my right arm and who knew _where _else?

Suddenly, a horrible sensation crept through my stomach, and I raised my hand up to my shoulder blade, running a gloved finger across the cut, not only feeling that, but the same rough, bubbly feeling as in my arm. That wasn't possible!

That could only mean one thing, and I was really glad Danik wasn't here to see it.

* * *

When I was in third grade, my grandfather on my mom's side was diagnosed with lung cancer. He was sick for years after, making frequent visits to the hospital, going in and out of chemotherapy and pushing the cancer into remission, only to have it come back again and finally claim his life once I got to ninth grade.

I remembered how upset I had been when my parents first delivered the bad news of his illness to me and my brother. It was like everything had shut down around me, and for a long time, I refused to believe that my grandfather was actually sick, as he had been the one to always encourage me to stand up for myself.

That was the same way I felt now, as the realization that the Necromorph tissue seemed to be spreading again continued to sink in. How else could it have moved from my arm to my shoulder blade?

The first time this happened was on the _Ishimura_, but once I made the jump from this world back to my own, it inexplicably disappeared. Now, however, it didn't look like it was going anywhere, appearing to be even _more _aggressive than before.

And between trying to find Ellie, stay hidden from Danik and his men, wonder about what would happen after this mission was finished, as well as what was going on back in my home world, this development could not have come at a worse time.

"Timmy?" Alex asked from somewhere behind me, "Are you okay?"

I whirled around in time to see that everyone was staring at me, mostly unreadable faces because of all the raised helmets. "Yeah," I replied, hoping my voice didn't betray my emotions, "Sorry. I was just lost in thought."

"That's a first," Carver muttered under his breath, and I glared at him. Even after telling me, Isaac, and Alex about his family, that didn't seem to change his attitude towards us.

"Well, now that you're back with us," Norton quipped, "Ellie still needs our help, and we've already wasted enough time just standing around. Are you going with Isaac or staying here?"

"Going, of course," I answered, "It's always me and Isaac by default, and I'm not gonna change that now."

"What about you, Alex?" Isaac piped up next.

I glanced at her as she frowned at me, clearly noticing something was wrong, but choosing not to comment on it. "Well, I could stay here and help Norton, like I said before," she said, "I don't know what Carver wants to do, but there's no sense in all of us going and risking our lives." Carver just shrugged noncommittally.

"Yeah, good point," Isaac told her, "Let's go, Timmy."

I nodded, reloaded my pistol, and moved forward to follow him. As he turned the crank on the door in front of us, I felt someone grab my arm, and when I glanced over my shoulder, I saw it was Alex, who continued to frown at me.

"Listen," she started, "Are you sure you're okay? You've been acting funny since we entered this ship."

Shit. If she was catching on, then the others would, too, and I knew it wouldn't be right to keep this a secret from them. It was just a matter of figuring out how to break the bad news as gently as possible. And I also didn't want everyone fretting over me when there were more important things to be concerned about.

"I know, I'm sorry," I replied, "And…well, I don't know how else to explain this, but…" I showed her the patch and my uncovered cut, hoping she would figure out what I was trying to tell her. Fortunately, she did, though her mouth still dropped open in shock in the process.

"Come on, Timmy!" Isaac called out from the other side of the room after gathering some extra supplies lying around, "I've got the door open."

"I'm on my way!" I replied, and then facing Alex again, I added, "Listen, I don't want you worrying about me. Everything will be fine. I'm sure once we find Ellie, we'll find a way to get rid of the infection once and for all."

Alex just sighed and shook her head. "It's hard _not _to worry about you with something like this. Just…try to stay alive, okay?"

I pulled her in for a hug, wishing I could say something that would make this all go away, though I knew it wouldn't. Even though I really wasn't feeling sure about this, I uttered the only optimistic phrase I could think of in this situation.

"I'll try."

* * *

Minutes later, I found myself walking slowly next to Isaac, my pistol pointed straight ahead as I tried to look around the dark hallways. So far, the rest of the _Roanoke _proved to be just as eerie, as once again, the only lights around us were the ones on our visors. I glanced to my right, where I spotted dried blood on the walls, floors, and various-sized crates all around us.

"Jesus," Isaac whispered under his breath, "Coffins everywhere. Looks like some kind of funeral."

"I hate to say it, but this reminds me of the _Ishimura's _Crew Deck," I replied.

"Got that right," the engineer muttered, "And the morgue, but you weren't with me when I had to go there. Let's just get out of here."

I nodded, using Kinesis to turn the crank right in front of us in order to go deeper into the ship. With agonizing slowness, the door creaked open, revealing a spacious room with a Bench off to the right.

"Norton, it's a dead end," Isaac announced into his RIG, "Looks like someone shut a bulkhead for quarantine."

"_Can we cut through it?_" Norton asked from his end.

"No, too thick. But it might cycle open if we power it up."

While he went to figure out how to get the door open again, I tried to picture this place as a full-functioning ship, though it was hard with the dilapidated state it was in. It was like trying to imagine the _Ishimura _as something other than an alien slaughterhouse. What was the story behind this lost ship? Did the people on it mysteriously disappear somehow, like the colony on Roanoke Island?

"Executions."

I jumped, whirling around in time to see that Carver had decided to tag along with us after all. I must have been so wrapped up in looking around the ship that I didn't hear the door behind us open a second time. Back in the cargo dock, he hadn't said yes or no to taking part in the search for Ellie, so I wasn't expecting him to leave Norton and Alex behind.

"I heard you two talking about those coffins in the last room," the soldier added when neither of us said anything in response, "That's what I think the setup back there was, anyway. An execution."

"Why do you say that?" Isaac asked.

"The bloodstains on the walls are head height," Carver explained, pointing at various spots that looked like they were indeed head height.

"That's not good," Isaac said more to himself than to us, "Why would there be executions here?"

"No fucking clue," the sergeant replied. Isaac shrugged, and after glancing around the room again, he picked up a battery in the corner and inserted it into the empty outlet right by the Bench. A quiet hum suddenly filled the previously silent area, the door pad on the bulkhead in front of us flickering to life with the usual green light we were accustomed to by now.

"That did it," he announced, "And there's a Bench on the same circuit."

"_Bench?_" Norton asked, sounding thoroughly confused.

"A work Bench, Norton," I spoke up.

"_I figured that out on my own, thanks,_" Norton replied, sounding annoyed.

"Well, either way, I've got the Bench working," Isaac quipped in an obvious attempt to quell any potential arguing, "With all the parts lying around here, maybe we can _make _better weapons than these ones."

"_Smart thinking,_" Norton responded in yet another rare compliment.

"_We've gotten Rosen and Locke out of the box, too,_" Alex reported, "_We're about to help Locke patch up Rosen's leg._"

"Good," I said, "We'll call you guys when we've found Ellie and her team."

"_Okay. And remember, be careful._"

"I will. Timmy out." I disconnected my RIG, sauntering over to Isaac and Carver as they activated the Bench. Wedging myself between the two of them, I scanned all the new options we had this time around. At least, new to me and Isaac, anyway. I had never seen a Bench like this one before; all the previous ones were just for upgrading our weapons, RIGs, and stasis/kinesis modules. The work station in front of us not only had all that, but also crafting weapons from spare parts and using resources to quickly make med packs and all sorts of other supplies. Gone were the days of using credits to pay for any of this.

"God," I commented as I peered at the different compartments and lists, "This is like the Bench and Store rolled into one, minus the suits and anything else to do with them."

"Maybe this is an earlier version," Isaac guessed, "If this ship is really two hundred years old. Then again, I saw a few locked Benches like this one on the colony, too."

"Unless they're going back to the old ones."

"Or New Horizons never upgraded theirs," Carver piped up, "Did you think of that?"

I glanced up at him and held a hand out in front of me. "One thought at a time, Sergeant," I told him, "Why'd you decide to join us, anyway?"

Again, Carver shrugged in that noncommittal manner. "Someone's gotta make sure you two don't stray too far."

"It's not like there are that many places to go," Isaac said from my left, "Hell, maybe we'll even get lucky and find Ellie in the next room." There was a persistent tone in his voice, which made me think that we should probably get a move on instead of hanging out by the Bench.

"She's close by, I'm sure," I reassured him, "Things are gonna be different this time. I know it."

"Well, you're upbeat for someone who claims to have been through hell," Carver muttered under his breath, shaking his head as he took out his assault rifle-style weapon.

For a second, I had a flashback to the day I threw my Playstation 3 at my bedroom mirror, but I forced myself to concentrate on something else entirely. "I try my best," was all I said, and after that exchange, the three of us fell silent once again, examining the crafting section of the Bench.

We didn't have many spare parts to work with, but we would try and make do with what we had collected in the cargo dock: Heavy Standard Frames, Tesla Cores, and Upgrade Circuits. To my right, Carver got to work examining his assault rifle as Isaac went to make a few minor repairs to his Plasma Cutter. Meanwhile, I just stared at one of the Tesla Cores and Heavy Standard Frames, wondering how the hell these simple pieces could fit together to make a full-functioning weapon. I figured this couldn't be any different from the robotics class I had taken back in high school. If I could build amateur robots in a classroom setting, then there was no reason why I couldn't attempt to do something similar here.

Eventually, I decided to attach the Tesla Core to the Heavy Standard Frame, and the end result looked a lot like a Line Gun. I had never used this particular weapon before, preferring to stick with the Pulse Rifle, Plasma Cutter, or my personal favorite, the Flamethrower, but I knew it wouldn't hurt to learn how to use a new weapon in the meantime.

"You made a Line Gun, too, Timmy?"

I glanced up in time to see that Isaac had stepped away from the Bench, holding up a Line Gun/Submachine Gun combination he had put together. It looked like he had attached the gun Carver had given him to the Line Gun while leaving the Plasma Cutter untouched.

"Sure did," I replied, deciding to use the Unitologist pistol I had stolen from Larson as the lower tool on the new weapon, "As best as I could, anyway. Great minds think alike, huh?"

"You can say that again," Carver mumbled sarcastically, also closing up the Bench to reveal that he, too, had made the same weapon we did.

"These will do for now, though," Isaac said, testing out the Line Gun before reloading it, "Now, let's go find Ellie."

* * *

Unfortunately, we didn't find the pilot in the next hallway, but I realized she might have holed herself up in a more secure room, just in case. When Isaac and I had first met her, she had barricaded herself behind a gate while slaughtering all the Necromorphs around her.

The sounds of scurrying feet and inhuman growls echoed above our heads, and I shuddered to think what else was here besides Ellie, us, and a completely unexplored flotilla of ships. Other than the noises, it was too quiet for my taste, and I hated it. Even being seasoned in Necromorph combat didn't stop me from feeling that familiar wave of dread.

"The hell was that?" Carver whispered after we heard metal clanging beyond the door in front of us. Neither Isaac nor I answered, and the sergeant marched ahead of us to turn the crank and let us pass through to the other side.

"Oh, yeah," Isaac spoke up as he faced me, "I meant to ask you before…how's that cut near your shoulder? It didn't look too good when I last saw it."

I froze, almost swearing I could feel the tissue bubbling underneath the patch once more. Damn it. With our latest trip to the Bench and trying to come up with some sort of game plan, I had forgotten all about my infection.

"Yeah, about that," I started, but didn't finish, for suddenly, we spotted something moving on the ceiling right in front of us. A cocoon was hanging upside down as something poked through and tried to worm its way out of the bindings. It growled and hissed, eventually chewing through the cocoon and landing on the ground, along with flakes of solid Necromorph tissue. With another snarl, the beast picked itself up and made a beeline right for us.

"Shit, you guys!" I gasped.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Carver snapped, raising his new combo weapon in front of him while Isaac and I ran to take care of the other Necromorphs that were running towards us. The Slasher that was aiming for me raised one of its bladed arms to try and cut my left arm, but I ducked out of the way and used the Line Gun to take out its legs before finishing it off for good. I remembered how awkward it had been to use the Plasma Cutter for the first time on the _Sprawl_, or even the Flamethrower on the _Ishimura_, and here was no different.

Isaac rotated the Plasma Cutter before killing the last Necromorph, and once the firefight died down, we all took a deep breath as we reloaded our weapons. "Jesus," I whispered, "You guys okay?"

"Yeah," Isaac answered, "Son of a…" He trailed off, holstering his Plasma Cutter as he pressed a button on his RIG.

"Hey, guys?" he began, "We're in trouble."

"_What is it?_" Norton replied, "_What's going on?_"

"We just got jumped by what's left of the crew," Isaac explained to him, earning a gasp from Alex on the other end.

"_Shit,_" she cursed, "_I should have known it was too good to be true._"

"_What?_" Norton gasped at the same time, "_No one could have survived out here that long!_"

"They didn't survive," Carver said, "They got turned into those…_things_."

"_What? Okay, what do we do?_" It was clear from the panic in Norton's voice that he had little to no experience with fighting Necromorphs. Having gone through two outbreaks already, I had almost forgotten what it was like to have no idea what I was up against.

"Alex can help you out," Isaac replied, "But in the meantime, you keep your weapon ready and stay the hell away from the ventilation ducts! If they get close, shoot for the limbs! You got that?"

"_Got it!_" Alex replied, though Norton didn't answer at first.

"Norton, I said _you got that_?" Isaac repeated sharply.

"_Yeah, yeah, okay! Okay!_" Norton snapped, acting like he had just lost the last of his patience with us. True, this was an extremely stressful situation, but we had to keep calm or else we would easily get ourselves killed.

"Hey, _you _asked _us _for advice," I piped up, "Remember?"

"_I know,_" Norton hissed, "_God, isn't there an off switch for your voice or something?_"

"Nope," I replied, and I heard him sigh petulantly as he hung up, leaving me, Isaac, and Carver to move a few boxes out of the way so that we could keep going. After we did that, Carver used Kinesis again for the crank on the next door, facing me in the process.

"You can never keep your mouth shut, can you?" he asked, "Just like they said. How do you stand it, Clarke?"

I ignored the jibe, pushing my way into the next hallway, which looked like an auditorium due to the large screen at the front of the room, followed by rows and rows of chairs plus a projector.

"He's not so bad," Isaac answered, "He's a lot better than he used to be, though. I can tell you that much."

"Thanks, Isaac," I thanked him before turning to Carver, "And remember how you said to quit acting like I knew everything about you, Sergeant? Well, I think the same could be said the other way around. There's more to me than what you've only heard through the grapevine."

Carver scoffed. "Yeah, we'll see about that."

We hurried to the exit on the other side of the auditorium before emerging in another hallway, where a second cocoon hung from the ceiling and housed another Slasher. The floor was littered with more flakes, making me realize that these were two-hundred year old Necromorphs, if Rosen and Locke's words from the _Eudora _were anything to go by.

After using Kinesis on the next door, I stepped into another passageway with a ladder, climbing down quickly so that I could leave enough room for Isaac and Carver to make their descent. Along the way, our RIGs went off, followed by the sound of Necromorphs growling and guns being fired.

"_Ahh!_" Norton yelled, "_They're coming out of the woodwork! Fire! Fire! Isaac, where the hell are you and the others?_"

"Almost to the crossover tube!" Isaac reported. The gunfire increased in volume as he said this.

"_They just keep coming!_" Locke shouted.

"_Locke, look out!_" I heard Alex scream before presumably opening fire on another Necromorph.

"_Sir, we're running low on ammo!_" Rosen cried, sounding more exasperated by the minute.

"That's because just shooting them doesn't do anything. You have to dismember them," I explained to him, echoing the very same piece of advice Isaac had given me on the _Ishimura_, "Just like Isaac said before. You can save ammo that way."

"Exactly," Isaac said, "And make a barricade, too! Just keep them out a little longer!"

While they got to work trying to fight off the Necromorphs, the three of us continued onward through a zero-g tunnel with some fans that were shut off, reminding me of a similar environment Isaac and I had passed through on Aegis 7. I just hoped Norton, Alex, and the others weren't getting too badly swamped in the cargo dock.

Suddenly, a vent to our left burst open, a familiar screeching greeting us as something small and round landed on the wall. It unfurled itself, waving its tentacles in the air and revealing its baby face.

"Oh, no!" I groaned, "Look what's back, Isaac!"

"Not the Lurkers again," Isaac hissed, taking out his Plasma Cutter in order to start taking out the tentacles before they pelted us with projectiles.

"I've never seen this one before," Carver mused after hurling Stasis at another Lurker just up ahead, "How many types are there?"

"Too many to count," I answered, turning the Line Gun to the first Lurker we had spotted. One of the projectiles it fired managed to strike me close to my shoulder where the other cut was, and I stopped in my tracks, trying not to yell in pain as I raised a hand up to the affected area. With the other hand, I used the pistol again to finish off the offending Necromorph, but that didn't make the burning sensation near the cut disappear.

"What's wrong with _you_, Stamford?" Carver asked once we landed on the other side, and I just continued to massage near my shoulder.

"Nothing," I said, "I'm fine."

"Is it your shoulder again?" Isaac chimed in, "You still didn't say anything about the cut."

Between both of them essentially grilling me over the same thing, I realized that I had no choice but to tell them about the infection now. I couldn't keep putting it off like this, and it wasn't right to hide it from them, either.

"All right," I said, "I'll show you. It's not gonna be pretty, though." And with that, I lowered my helmet and proceeded to pull off the filthy patch.

At first, neither of them said anything, only staring at my shoulder and taking in the fact that the very same Necromorph tissue that was all around us was literally growing right out of my cut. After a while, though, I wished _someone _would say _something_. When the silence was eventually broken, it wasn't Isaac who reacted first, but Carver.

"Jesus," he mumbled, "I thought that was just a rumor. So what are you, half-Necromorph or something?"

"_No!_" I snapped, glaring at him, "A certain Church member on the _Ishimura_ thought it'd be a great idea to try and mix the Necromorph tissue with my own. You, Carver, are looking at a live, unfinished Unitologist 'experiment', if you will. Eventually, Dr. Mercer found another poor, innocent person to experiment on and didn't need me anymore, but that sure as hell didn't stop him from trying to kill me and Isaac, anyway." My voice grew bitter as I remembered how guilty I had felt for not being able to save the person that had been turned into the Hunter.

"Shit," the soldier cursed, "And you've been running around with that the whole time?"

"For as long as I've known him, he has," Isaac finally spoke up, "Why didn't you say something about this earlier, Timmy?"

I placed the patch back over the cut as I replied, "You were already worried about Ellie. I didn't want you worrying about me, too."

"Yeah, well, after what happened on the _Sprawl_…" He trailed off there, and I raised an eyebrow as I waited for him to finish his sentence. Except for a few instances, he hardly ever talked about Titan Station, wanting to put that and everything else behind him, so it was unusual for him to bring it up.

"What about it?" I pressed.

He looked like he wanted to say something else, but then thought better of it and gestured to the ladder in front of us.

"Nothing. Just forget it. Let's keep moving."

* * *

Eventually, we made it to the main generator room, consisting of three circular switches with arrows and Kinesis symbols on them. Behind those were more cranks not unlike the ones on all the doors. I sauntered over to the edge, peering down at the fog that clouded the base of the towers while Carver investigated three monitors that must have been hooked up to the switches.

"Norton, you there?" Isaac whispered into his RIG.

"_Yeah,_" Norton replied, "_Yeah, I'm here. All right, I think that's holding them for now._"

"Good. The SOS is coming from directly above us, and it looks like we've found the ship's primary generator. If we can get the power going, it should unlock the crossover for you."

"_What about you guys?_"

"There's an elevator here that goes straight up the spire. We'll meet you at Ellie's coordinates." He hung up, and I stepped away from the railing and faced the first switch.

"All right," I said, "Let's get these towers back online."

It didn't take long for us to figure out how to power everything up. The towers required at least two people to operate them-one to hold the first clamp down and another to turn the crank. It was after Isaac and Carver silently worked on the first one that the Necromorphs began to attack, including more of those Wasters we had run into back on the colony. I found myself sighing in frustration; being swamped by these monsters only made the whole operation unnecessarily complicated, and I found myself missing my Flamethrower again. I had to be careful not to get hit again, for even the slightest scratch could send the tissue spreading to that location.

Once the Wasters were taken care of, Isaac ran off to the side to confront some Lurkers that were crawling along the wall, leaving me and Carver to turn on the second tower. Carver moved to pull down the clamp, but I accidentally grabbed it at the same time, causing it to slide back up with a loud _clang_. The echo hurt my ears and sent a wave of pain through my head.

"Watch it!" Carver snapped.

"_Sorry_," I hissed, taking hold of the clamp this time while the soldier turned the crank. A bright flash of purple light briefly illuminated the room, but eventually, the tower fed electricity into the generator, only leaving the last station. Another Lurker leaped down from the ceiling, raising its tentacles and exposing its yellow weak spots to us as it screeched at the top of its lungs.

"Almost got it!" Isaac cried, "Timmy, help me with the last tower!"

I covered my head and ran, dodging another projectile as I finally made it to Isaac's side, waiting for him to pull down the clamp while I turned the crank. On the other side of the room, Carver covered us as he fought against the Necromorphs on his own.

"_Hey, we have power!_" Norton cried once we managed to get the generators up and running, "_The crossover just opened up!_"

"You're welcome," Isaac replied, though Norton didn't seem to be put off by his slight attitude.

"_Rosen, Locke, stay put. Isaac, Carver, Stamford, we'll rendezvous at the spire._"

"Got it," Carver quipped.

"_See you there. Let's go, Adams._"

Without saying a word, the three of us headed over to the elevator and rode it up to the next floor, and I checked my RIG as the SOS signal increased in strength. In a few minutes, we would be reunited with Ellie, and I couldn't help but feel nervous. After everything that had happened between her and Isaac, I imagined things were going to be pretty damn awkward. Hell, this whole situation _still _felt wrong to me, but we were here now, and it was better to try and make the best of it.

Once we finally made it to the spire, the elevator door opened, and right away, I spotted Ellie standing with a man and a woman I didn't recognize. She hadn't changed all that much over the last three months, except for the fact that she was now carrying a Plasma Cutter in her belt. None of them wore spacesuits, opting for casual clothes instead, and it was a wonder that they managed to survive without them.

Just as we stepped into the room, Norton and Alex appeared from our right, and I went to wrap my arm around her as Ellie and the others finally noticed us. "Oh God, you found us!" she exclaimed in relief, smiling and sprinting towards Norton.

"Oh, Ellie, baby!" the Captain cried as Ellie launched herself into his arms, with him returning the hug fiercely.

"_Baby?_" Alex whispered into my ear. I shook my head and continued to watch Ellie and Norton as they leaned in and shared a kiss, with Ellie draping her arms around Norton's neck and him hugging her to the point where it almost looked like he was trying to show just how much of a claim he had on her.

"O…K, then," I mumbled to myself, letting out a puff of air that blew some of my hair out of my face.

Next to me, Alex's cheeks turned red, and I just looked away and shared a glance with her, getting the distinct feeling that this was something we weren't meant to witness.

"Well," Alex said to me in a quiet voice, "This explains a _lot_."

Norton and Ellie's kissing lasted only a few seconds, but it felt more like minutes to me as it dawned on me that perhaps I had known all along why Norton had acted so impatient with Isaac. _Damn, _I thought, _So this is why he kept mentioning the ex-factor_. I then turned my gaze to Isaac himself, who just stayed rooted where he was, watching the two of them with an unreadable expression on his face, though I could only imagine how he felt at the moment.

"I knew you were too stubborn to die," Norton whispered to Ellie once they both pulled away for air, and instead of kissing again, he just hugged her, allowing her to bury her face into his chest.

"Captain," the older man that had been standing next to Ellie spoke up, pointing at Isaac, "Is this him?"

Norton turned around to face the rest of us, locking eyes with Isaac, and again, seemingly going out of his way to make it known that Ellie was his girlfriend by putting his arm around her. I knew it was a normal gesture for couples-hell, I had my arm around Alex at the same time-but something about the _way_ Norton was doing it bothered me, almost like he was being unnecessarily obnoxious about it. "Uhh, yeah," he said, barely paying attention to us as he just smiled at Ellie and rubbed her shoulder affectionately, "That's, uh, that's him."

"Isaac Clarke, great to meet you!" the other man cried, saluting the engineer, "Austin Buckell, Marker Ops. And this here is Jennifer Santos, our little lady with the big brain." He gestured to the short-haired, dark-skinned woman leaning on him, and she smiled as she gave a friendly wave. I didn't know about Isaac, but for some reason, I actually didn't get any bad vibes from either Buckell or Santos, which scared the shit out of me. I had gone so long feeling like I couldn't trust anyone except Isaac, Ellie, and eventually Alex, so I didn't know what to make of this. I had promised myself I would try and break out of my habit of instantly distrusting people, but that didn't mean it completely disappeared whenever I met a new face.

"Nice to meet you guys," I said cautiously after Isaac nodded at both of them, "I'm Timmy Stamford, and this is Alex Adams. We're friends of Isaac and Ellie."

"Any friend of Isaac's is a friend of ours," Santos replied, grinning at us before facing the engineer again, "And if it's true you can decipher the Marker script, this mission might still have a chance."

"It's good to see you two again," Ellie quipped, giving me and Alex a weak smile, "And Isaac…thank you for coming."

"Like I had a choice," Isaac spat, the edge in his voice noticeable enough to create an uncomfortable silence. Santos and Buckell just glanced at each other while Alex looked down and brushed some dirt off her jumpsuit. Carver cleared his throat, but otherwise remained quiet as Ellie moved away from Norton and approached Isaac.

"I know, I'm sorry," she apologized, "But I have so much to tell you!"

Suddenly, a loud roar reached our ears, and we all flinched as we tried to figure out what was making such a ghastly noise. Carver frowned and began pointing his gun in all directions as he hissed, "Damn it. Sounds like it's right below us!"

"Whoa!" Norton gasped, "All right, come on! We have to get out of here now!" He reached for Ellie's arm, but she pulled away from him and held her hand up in the air.

"No, not yet!" she snapped, "Isaac, we need to stop the Marker. The trail ends at the Admiral's quarters. She'd written Marker scrawl all over the wall! The answers are in there! I know it! We _cannot _leave until we know what it says!"

"Yeah, well, then let Isaac and his friends handle the translating!" Norton suggested, "We're leaving. _Now_! I've got Buckell, you get Santos. Let's go!"

"Do you want to go with them, Alex?" I asked.

To my surprise, Alex shook her head as she took her pistol out of its holster. "No, that's okay. I want to see the Admiral's quarters."

"Other than some Marker scrawl, I doubt there's much to see."

Alex shrugged. "You never know."

And with that, Norton threw Buckell's arm around his neck to help support him, leading him back to the crossover tube while Ellie grabbed Santos and then glanced at the rest of us, wondering whether she should stay or go.

"Go on," Isaac encouraged her, "Take care of your crew. They need you more than I do." She nodded, but frowned at him as she hoisted Santos up and helped guide her back to the tube, leaving the four of us standing around the room. Isaac's gaze remained fixed on the door Ellie had just gone through, his face settling back into the emotionless mask that I hadn't seen since his days in confinement on the _Sprawl_.

"You could have warned me about Ellie and the Captain," Isaac chided Carver once he turned and made his way over to the Bench in the corner.

"No one cares about your love life, Marker Boy," Carver snapped in response.

"_I _care," the engineer retorted, "Even a _little _heads up would have been nice." Carver didn't comment any further, turning his back on us to go use the Bench in the corner.

"You guys didn't know about Ellie and Norton, too, did you?" Isaac asked me and Alex, and we both shook our heads.

"Not until just now," Alex added helpfully, "Norton didn't tell me anything while I was helping him tend to Rosen and Locke. Though you'd think he would have mentioned something about that much earlier."

"Exactly," I agreed in a whisper low enough so that Carver wouldn't hear me badmouthing his commanding officer, "And I don't know about you guys, but the more we get to know Norton, the less I like him."

Isaac just sighed and rubbed the side of his head where the gash still resided. "I know what you mean," he said, "But this isn't something for you two to be getting involved in. Whatever happens as far as that goes is between me and Ellie. Got it?"

I glanced over my shoulder at the door leading back to the crossover tube, trying to wrap my head around this bit of news and figure out when and how exactly Norton and Ellie became a couple, but I nodded all the same as I turned to head over to the Bench.

"Got it."


	7. Chapter Six: Tricks of the Mind

Okay, here we go! Here's the next chapter of "Journey into Darkness" for you guys! It took a little while, but I finally got it. Thanks again to all of you for your continued support of this story, and I hope you enjoy this next chapter! :)

**DISCLAIMER: **Only my OCs, plot ideas, and changes from the original game are mine. Everything else belongs to Visceral Games/EA.

* * *

"I guess you were right, Timmy," Isaac mused as we finished crafting supplies at the Bench, "Things _were _different this time."

I sighed as I stuffed another small med pack in my pocket and backed away from the work station. "I'm sorry," I apologized, "I didn't mean it because of Ellie and Norton."

"I know you didn't. We better get going, though, so we can find the Admiral's quarters and this Marker writing."

I nodded. "Right. How are you doing with weapon crafting, Alex?" I turned to face her as she, too, stepped away from the Bench with a newly made Line Gun/Submachine Gun combination just like me and Isaac.

"I think I've finally made something that actually works," she declared, shooting the Line Gun part of it a few times to get used to it before loading some more ammo into it.

"Congratulations," Carver spoke up in a deadpan voice, "Now let's go so we can get out of this shithole." Alex gripped her new weapon tightly in her hands as she called the elevator, allowing the doors to open for us to climb in. All the while, I could have sworn I heard another low roar right before I hit the button for the floor below us.

"_Isaac_," Ellie suddenly piped up through the RIG, "_I'm sorry about that. There's so much going on I-_"

"So Norton, huh?" Isaac interrupted her, the edge returning in his voice, "I mean, _that _was quick."

"_The world is ending,_" Ellie harshly reminded him, "_And all you can think about is us?_"

Isaac scoffed. "Damn right. I never gave up on you!"

"_Oh, no. You gave up on the world!_"

There it was: the whole reason they had broken up in the first place. If I thought the reunion with Ellie was awkward, this conversation was even worse, which reminded me of all those times Alex and I had heard the two of them arguing over this same matter.

"I paid my dues!" Isaac shouted, "Don't you think I'm fucked up enough already?"

"_Isaac!_" Ellie yelled from her end, frustration creeping back into her voice, "_This is do or die! We're stuck without your help! Are you with me?_"

"Doesn't look like I have a choice," Isaac snapped.

Suddenly, the elevator shook, and I grabbed Alex's arm to steady myself. Another roar that reminded me of the Hive Mind pierced our ears, followed by the sound of something slimy moving around beyond those doors.

"Perfect," Isaac grumbled, disconnecting from Ellie, "Now what?"

"Whatever it is," I said, "It's something big."

Nobody said anything in response as the elevator finally opened, allowing us to step into the generator room…and stop in our tracks at the sight of giant tentacles wrapped around the towers and blocking our way out of the area.

"_What the hell?_" I gasped.

"_What?_" Isaac cried at the same time, "Oh, fuck. Where did this thing come from?"

"Maybe you guys woke it up when you turned on the power before?" Alex suggested.

"I don't care how the hell it got here," Carver cut in, "Let's just get rid of it."

And just like before, Isaac and I approached the first tower, repeating the same process we went through to get the generators up and running in the first place. Once we finished with the first tower, the beast roared, hastily pulling the tentacle closest to us away and back into the fog below.

"There," I sighed in relief, "That did it. I guess we have to turn the other towers back on in the same way?"

"We could give it a shot," Isaac said, "Carver, Alex, cover us."

Right after he said that, another tentacle appeared, looking exactly like the ones that had tried to drag Isaac to his death way back on the _Ishimura_. It was like living those moments we had to drag the Marker through the ship's Cargo Bay all over again.

Next to me, Isaac hurled some Stasis at the tentacle, slowing it down so we could shoot at it and get rid of it for good. Damn. Why hadn't we thought of that on the _Ishimura_?

"You guys all right over there?" I shouted at Carver and Alex as they ran back over to our side.

"Yeah!" Alex cried, "Don't worry about us. Just focus on getting rid of the part blocking our way out!"

"And _you_ better focus on the one that just popped up right next to us!" Carver yelled, yanking her out of the path of another tentacle just as it nearly slammed down on top of them. I couldn't help but remember what had happened to Kendra Daniels, and even though what she did to me and Isaac on Aegis 7 was wrong, there was no denying that her death was a horrible way to go.

Isaac and I raced over to the next tower and repeated the same process as before, causing the next thick tentacle to move out of our way with surprisingly little resistance. While we continued to try and get rid of this Necromorph, I thought about what Ellie said she found in the Admiral's quarters, and the more I thought about it, the more I wondered what it said. Could we even trust anything written in Marker script, given everything else we had been through?

"So you're the one that used to be a Unitologist, huh?" I heard Carver ask Alex during a brief break from fighting while Isaac and I hurried to clear the path closest to the exit. The two of them followed closely behind us to cover us, just in case.

"Yes," Alex answered, "I am."

Carver just shook his head. "And you're the one that almost killed Danik. There's irony for you."

Alex hastily looked away as she replied, "I'd rather not talk about that. I was just trying to protect myself and Timmy. No harm in that, right?"

"Of course not," I spoke up, using Kinesis to hold down the last clamp while Isaac turned the crank, "Danik would have killed us otherwise."

Alex shuddered. "It's not something I want to think about, that's for sure."

"Well, I doubt he'll find us all the way out here, so I wouldn't worry about it too much," I replied as Isaac finished with the crank and sent the last tentacle into oblivion. The Hive Mind-like roars gradually died down, leaving only an eerie silence as we checked for any lingering Necromorphs and not finding any. Once we were one hundred percent sure the coast was clear, we made our way back over to the door so we could get to the Admiral's quarters as quickly as possible. Next to me, I noticed that Isaac remained silent, not having voiced his opinion on Danik when the three of us were talking a few minutes ago. Once we all climbed down the ladder, I turned to face him.

"Everything okay?" I asked, "You've been pretty quiet."

"What?" Isaac replied, looking up, "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just…promise that while we're on this mission, you won't run off and do anything reckless, okay?"

I chuckled nervously, switching the hand I held my weapon combination in. "Okay?" I echoed, "Where is this coming from?"

"I'm serious. You need to watch yourself out here. And in your condition, too? You don't want to aggravate that infection anymore than it already is."

I raised an eyebrow, though Isaac couldn't see it because of my helmet. "I won't, though," I assured him, "Trust me, everything's going to be fine. Nothing will happen to me, and I'm sure we'll find a way to cure me for good."

That was what I was hoping for, anyway, since apparently, the growth suppressant I had been given when I first woke up didn't seem to work. Alex and I had tried looking for other ways to combat it over the last few years, only for all our efforts to be futile. There had to be something out here that could help.

"I hope you're right, Timmy," Isaac said, guiding us through the tunnel from before, where the blades on the fans spun rapidly and blew air right into our faces, "I really hope you're right."

* * *

Once we managed to hack into the elevator leading to the quarters, we quickly climbed into the cabin and made our descent, my palms sweating again as I wondered what the Marker scrawl would say. Though I had been traveling with Isaac nearly the entire time, I couldn't read it as well as he could.

Eventually, we rounded the corner, and my mouth dropped open in shock as I took in the room in front of us. There was a body lying on the floor, which I realized must have been the Admiral herself, a large sketch of the Marker on the wall in front of her, and the aforementioned script written above it. It also looked like she had drawn a cylindrical tube as well, with lines crisscrossing the center, though I wasn't sure what that was supposed to be. Papers were strewn all over the floor, and the window to our right granted us a view outside.

"Oh my God," Isaac whispered under his breath as he approached the wall, nearly stumbling over the body as he stepped closer to examine the drawings.

"Ellie wasn't kidding when she said we'd find answers in here," I also whispered as I pressed a button on my wrist, taking pictures of the quarters to keep for reference. Next to me, Alex remained silent, walking over to the window to look outside while the rest of us studied the wall.

Isaac extended his hand and touched the drawing of the Marker, going into a trance-like state as his eyes darted back and forth between the different images. I knew that look all too well: he wore it every time he was hallucinating something, and I wondered what else he was seeing besides the artwork in front of us.

"Turn it off," he began to mumble, "Turn it off. Turn it off. Turn it off."

_Huh? _I thought, _What is he talking about? Turn what off?_

"Ellie, it's Carver," Carver spoke up, "We've reached the Admiral's quarters. Isaac's…" He trailed off as he noticed Isaac was still locked in a trance, repeating the same phrase over and over again. Alex tore her gaze away from the window as she, too, noticed what was happening.

"What's going on?" she asked, joining the rest of us, "What does he see?"

"I don't know," Carver muttered, "But I'm gonna find out. Hey, Isaac!" He reached out to shake his shoulder, but I raised my hand to stop him.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I warned him, having a flashback to the time Isaac had accidentally slapped me across the face when I had unintentionally gotten in the way of one of his very first hallucinations.

"Well, how else are we supposed to snap him out of it?" Carver replied, "I don't think he's coming back to reality anytime soon."

"I don't know," I answered, folding my arms, "What do you suggest?"

"Turn it off," Isaac continued to recite like a broken record, "Turn it off. Turn it off…"

Carver glanced from me to Isaac, frowning as he sighed and shook his head, stepping closer to the engineer until he was practically in his face.

"Isaac!" he yelled, which attracted Ellie's attention from her end.

"_Isaac?_" she asked, "_Guys, what's going on?_"

"Don't worry, Ellie," Alex spoke up, "We've got it under control."

"Or we're about to, anyway," I added, watching as Carver grabbed Isaac's shoulder and shook it.

"Isaac!" he cried again, "Hey! _Hey!_"

But Isaac looked like he was already starting to come around on his own, blinking as he stumbled away from the wall and shook his head.

"_What is it?_" Ellie demanded, "_What's going on?_"

"Nothing," Isaac insisted, "Nothing. Everything's fine, everything's…fine. Ellie, the Admiral was obsessed with making a key." I followed his finger to the drawing of the cylindrical tube he was pointing at, and I realized that must have been it. That was an interesting shape for a key.

"_A key to what?_" Ellie asked, but Isaac ignored her as he continued to stare at the wall, running his hand between the different images, from the tube to the Marker itself.

"Hey!" Carver piped up, "A key to _what_?"

_Good God, Carver, _I thought, my patience with him beginning to run dangerously low, _Let the man do his job!_

"Some sort of alien device," Isaac explained, "A machine. I think she believed that it…controlled the Markers?" He sounded very unsure of himself, and it made me question everything all over again.

"It could be," Alex said, moving closer to offer her two cents, "That looks like a machine right in the middle. If that tube is the key like you said, then this probably does control the Markers. Maybe the Black Marker somehow originated from this, too, before they found it on Earth."

Ellie seemed to consider what we were saying. "_Oh my God,_" she whispered in astonishment.

"She wanted to turn it off," Isaac continued, "She wrote that over and over again, like a mantra."

"_Or instructions! This is exactly what we've been looking for!_"

"It is?" I asked, my voice probably sounding very skeptical about all this.

"_Of course it is! This isn't just some random planet, you guys! They found the source! The Marker home world!_"

Isaac, Alex, and I all turned to face the window, the snow-covered planet down below entering our view again, along with the moon. The idea that this uncharted place possibly provided all the answers we needed to stop the Marker threat…it almost seemed too good to be true, in a way.

"You've gotta be shitting me," Carver whispered to himself.

"The Marker home world…" Isaac also echoed.

"_All right, let's regroup in the control room,_" Ellie suggested, "_We can plan our next move from there_."

Suddenly, we heard the sound of vents breaking from somewhere above us, along with the familiar growling of more Necromorphs. "Shit," I cursed under my breath.

"Clarke!" Carver cried, shaking Isaac's shoulder again, "Shake it off, let's go! Clarke!" He dashed back to the elevator, leaving the three of us standing by the window as we regrouped, grabbing our weapons as we prepared for another ambush.

"So what do you two think?" Isaac asked, "The Marker home world?"

I raised a hand to my chin, considering all the information we had just found. "It sounds a hell of a lot simpler than I thought it would be, that's for sure," I said, "_Turn it off?_"

"There's probably a catch. I bet there's a long, outstretched process we have to go through before we can just 'flip the switch', so to speak."

I laughed. "That's how it always is for us. I guess this time wouldn't be any different, would it?"

"Not at all. Let's get out of here so we can meet up with the others again." With that, he turned away from the window and went to meet Carver by the elevator. In the meantime, I noticed Alex hadn't offered her opinion on this new development, instead remaining transfixed on the view outside.

"What's going on?" I asked her, "What else are you looking at?"

Just like I did for the Admiral's mural, Alex pressed a button on her wrist, snapping a few images of the planet and the moon outside. "I just want to keep a record of our surroundings," she answered, "It'll do us good to have visual images for reference." I watched as she zoomed in on the heavily damaged moon, pressing the shutter button again as she captured a few different images from all angles.

"Say," I spoke up again, "What's up with you and that moon, anyway? I saw you staring at it the same way on the _Eudora_."

Alex reached for her weapon as she and I left the room. "Well," she said, "It's just…when I was first adopted into the Church, there was this one book I would read from time to time, and it was about all the different kinds of deities ancient cultures used to worship. Pretty fascinating stuff. I've forgotten most of the names mentioned by now, though, since Daina confiscated the book and forced me to read pure-Unitology literature until I was chanting 'Altman Be Praised' in my sleep. That moon out there just reminded me of one of the moon worship pictures in the book, that's all."

"Really?" I asked, "Why didn't you just tell us this on the _Eudora_?"

Alex shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it just didn't cross my mind at the time. We didn't get a good look at it."

We proceeded to climb back into the elevator as Isaac pressed the button to go back up, and while we waited to disembark, I thought about everything we had found, plus Alex's reasons for studying the moon the way she had. Once again, I found myself formulating nothing but questions in my mind, wondering if all of them would end up being answered.

I'd have to wait and find out.

* * *

"_Buckell here,_" Buckell piped up from his end, contacting us through the RIGs as soon as we climbed out of the elevator, "_We've tracked down a scrapped transport shuttle called the Crozier._"

"_If we can get it space worthy again, we can use it to reach the planet's surface,_" Ellie added.

"So this is really happening?" I asked, "We're actually going to the planet?"

"_As long as we can gain access to the Crozier, we are,_" Buckell answered, and I let out a puff of air. _Well, this should be exciting, _I thought to myself.

"_No chance,_" Norton suddenly cut in after remaining silent the entire time we had been in the Admiral's quarters, "_We find this shuttle, then we're getting the hell out of here._"

"_Damn it, Robert!_" Ellie snapped, "_If we don't stop the Markers, there won't be anything to go back to_!"

"Either way, it looks like the shuttle's our only shot," Isaac interrupted them in order to break up the potential fight, "Where is it?"

"_In the biggest ship of the fleet,_" Buckell reported, "_The Terra Nova. But it's a long walk._"

"_Well, they must have had some way to travel between ships,_" Santos said.

"_If there's a way, we'll find it._" With that, the others signed off, and we continued on our way, passing through the same hallways as before and double checking to make sure there were no Necromorphs around. The whole time, I wondered why Norton was so eager to leave this place all of a sudden after going through hell and back just to bring me, Isaac, and Alex out here in the first place.

Besides, I was sure New Horizons was in a state of disrepair at this point after Danik's handy work.

"Hey, guys," Alex spoke up, breaking the silence, "Check this out. There's a video here for a General Spencer Mahad."

We all crowded around her as we reentered the auditorium from earlier, only this time, a video was playing on the screen.

"Dr. Earl Serrano," Isaac read from a label on the projector, "Let's see what he has to say, then."

And after we checked again for any signs of Necromorphs, we took our seats in some of the chairs as Serrano's video that was playing started over from the beginning.

"_Good afternoon, General. Admiral Graves asked me to prepare this information for you. When the Black Marker was exhumed on Earth in 2214, it defied our understanding of science. It appeared to generate limitless energy-a trait of obvious importance in our resource-strapped times. There was an effort to replicate the Marker, hoping to understand its technology, thereby acquiring limitless energy for ourselves._"

"_Ha!_" I laughed out loud, "And look how _that _turned out." The others nodded in silent agreement, and I settled down again so that I could catch the rest of the video.

"_Imagine our surprise when we learned that they are not sources of energy, but receivers of it_," Serrano continued, "_Via carrier waves from somewhere deep in space. Triangulating this 'Marker Signal' revealed a previously undetected planet, now known as Tau Volantis. We hope to find the source of this signal, and finally harness that energy for ourselves. And if this works, it could mean a better future for all of us. General, thank you for your time._" The video briefly paused before starting over, and with that, the four of us got up again after our brief break.

"So I guess they really did find the source," I said as we climbed over the seats to head back out to the hallway.

"Looks like it," Isaac echoed, "And now it's up to us to finish the Admiral's work somehow."

The rest of the trip back to where we had first entered the ship didn't take too long, except for the Necromorphs that attempted to swarm us. While we split up to take out each one, I randomly thought about Isaac asking me not to run off and do anything reckless. The way he constantly asked me about my condition reminded me of the way I had pestered him about his hallucinations, and I couldn't help but wonder if part of this attitude was because of both mine and Ellie's incidents on Titan Station.

"Isaac!" Ellie cried, waving all of us over once we finally made it back to the control room, "There you guys are!"

"Where is everyone?" Isaac asked as we crowded around her.

"_Finding a way off this wreck,_" Norton grumbled, "_Santos, tell them what we found_."

"_Of course!_" Santos cried excitedly, "_We found a little maintenance craft: a Skip. It doesn't go very far or very fast, but it will take you to the outermost ships. Here, I'm sending you the coordinates._"

"Thanks a lot, Santos," Alex thanked her.

"_Now, let's get the shuttle so we can head home already,_" Norton tried to suggest for a second time, which only resulted in Ellie throwing her hands up in exasperation. I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from commenting on his apparent refusal to listen to any of us.

"Robert," she sighed, "We're _not going home_!"

"Hey, hey!" Isaac jumped in, yet again trying to diffuse the situation, "We'll get the shuttle first, and then decide what to do with it. We're heading out to take a look at this 'Skip'."

"_All right,_" Buckell spoke up, "_The power for it should be running again by the time you all reach it, so you can just take it to the Terra Nova._"

Carver nodded. "Got it."

While the others headed over to the Bench to quickly stock up on more supplies, I approached Ellie as she continued to fiddle with the fuse box in front of us. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm trying to give the Skip a little extra power," Ellie explained, "All it needs is a tiny boost and then it should be ready to go. At least, it'll travel a little faster than it already does." She moved another switch over to the side and then stepped back to face me.

"But enough about that," she said, "How have you and Alex been? I know it's been ages since I've seen all of you."

I shrugged. "Other than a scary run in with Danik and trying not to get ourselves killed," I answered, "We've been all right. Things haven't been the same since you left, though. Oh, and my infection's acting up again. Alex and I tried everything under the sun to keep it in check before coming out here, but we were afraid we would just aggravate it even more."

Ellie frowned. "Sorry to hear that," she apologized, "Maybe going to the planet will give us some answers. If this is the Marker home world, they must have a way to cure this type of infection, too." She then stepped closer and lowered her voice to a whisper.

"Did you remember to do what I asked you to do?" she asked quietly so that the others wouldn't hear her.

I nodded. "I did. It ended up being a joint effort between me and Alex, on top of everything else we were worried about. And Isaac…well…" I trailed off, figuring Ellie could fill in the blanks herself based on Isaac's reaction to her new boyfriend.

She sighed again, running a hand through her hair. "Well, thank you both for setting some time apart to look out for him," she said, "And I know this was a bad way to break the news about me and Robert to Isaac, but he's just…different. You wouldn't understand."

"No, I wouldn't," I echoed in a strained voice, though what I really didn't understand was what she even saw in the Captain in the first place. It was probably something that the rest of us didn't see, but I honestly couldn't picture him as being something other than an asshole.

However, I made a promise to Isaac that I would not stick my nose where it didn't belong, so I kept most of my thoughts to myself.

"Speaking of Norton," I added a few seconds later, "How long have you guys…you know…?"

Ellie closed the fuse box as she reached down to reload her Plasma Cutter. "The last two months," she said, "Robert and I spent the first month getting to know each other while he helped me sort out all my Marker research, and then things sort of unfolded from there. He understood why I was so gung ho on making this mission happen, which is why I don't understand why he suddenly wants to go home now."

"I guess he thought rescuing you and your team _was _the mission," I said to her as I leaned against one of the columns and folded my arms, "Maybe he didn't expect for any of us to actually _stay_ out here."

"That's ridiculous! I mean, I've told him many times that this is important to me, and now that we have proof that there's a way to save our race, I refuse to back out. Not when we're so close."

"Yeah," I replied, "You've got a point." She must have sensed something in my voice, for she frowned as she faced me again.

"What's wrong?" she asked, "You don't sound too excited about any of this, either."

"No, I am," I assured her, "I want this crisis to be over as much as the next person. It's just that…I can't stop thinking about the way Isaac was manipulated by Markers in the past. And _twice_, too. I don't know. I guess I'm being cautiously optimistic or some shit like that."

"Timmy! Ellie!"

I glanced up as I heard Isaac addressing both of us from the Bench. He appeared to be finished with whatever he had to do, backing away from the work station as he reloaded his Plasma Cutter.

"I checked the navigator," he continued, "And it looks like there's a Suit Kiosk right in the next hallway. I'm gonna go take a look at it really quickly."

"Okay," I replied, "I just have to make a quick trip to the Bench and then the rest of us will meet up with you."

"And then you're going to the Skip?" Ellie asked, "Just be careful out there when you go."

"We will," Isaac said to her, "We'll let you know how it goes."

And with that, he disappeared up the stairs and through the previously locked door. Meanwhile, I made my way over to where Carver and Alex were just finishing up at the crafting section. While I was there, I decided to make a few modifications to my weapon combination, adding a little bit more firepower to the machine gun part of it, as well as a higher rate of fire for the Line Gun. What I really wanted was to get my hands on the right supplies to make a flamethrower, but there didn't seem to be anything around here for now. Next to me, I spotted Alex taking apart her gun, putting the Tesla Core back into the Bench and adding a shotgun instead.

"Where did you get that?" I asked her.

"In a side room back where we came from," she explained, pointing at the large door, "There were a few blueprints for it, so I decided to use one of them to make a different weapon. Instead of everyone having Line Guns." She took a few steps forward and fired a few bullets to test it before nodding with satisfaction.

"All right!" she cried happily, "I'm good to go! Let's go meet up with Isaac!"

"You two go ahead," Carver said, "I've still got a little more work to do."

Right after he said that, both of us waved to Ellie and proceeded to climb up the stairs, wondering what the Suit Kiosk would be like. All previous upgrades had been done at the Bench, but I supposed it would be different this time around. I spent a few seconds trying to decide what I wanted to upgrade first: my Stasis module, Kinesis, or my RIG.

We were just getting ready to hit the button to open the door when we heard the sound of a video log starting, along with familiar, muffled voices. "_Isaac, Norton here_," we heard Norton quip, and Alex and I just glanced at each other.

"Shh," she whispered to me, holding a finger up to her lips as we leaned against the door so that we could hear what was being said.

"Why are you contacting me on a private channel?" Isaac asked. _Hmm, _I thought, frowning in suspicion as both of us continued to listen.

"_Because I need to know if you're on my side,_" Norton replied.

Isaac scoffed. "We're taking sides now?"

"_I know you two had a…thing,_" Norton said, his voice sounding much sharper than before, "_But she's mine now, and I love her too much to let her do this._"

Alex and I traded another quick glance before resuming our eavesdropping. Neither of us had any idea where this conversation was going, and we weren't sure we were too eager to find out.

"If she's right," Isaac said, "And this is the Marker home world, maybe there's a chance of stopping this."

"_Look, look, we both know how this is going to end_," Norton responded,"_If they found a way to stop the Markers two hundred years ago, don't you think we'd all be safe by now? It doesn't add up._" There was a brief pause before we caught the sound of the Captain laughing bitterly.

"_Oh. Oh, I get it. You think that you and her…yeah, well, forget it. She's over you, all right?_"

I gasped, backing away from the door as I shook my head and glanced at Alex for a third time, and I could see it on her face, too, that she was shocked by what we had just heard. Yes, it was probably awkward for Ellie's current boyfriend and ex to work together, but there were more important things to worry about right now.

"What the _hell _is wrong with him?" Alex hissed under her breath, "Is he…jealous or what?"

"I think you just answered your own question," I said to her as I glanced over my shoulder at Ellie, who was still working by the fuse box. It took me all my self-control not to march back over to her and spill the beans about what we had just overheard. I was not used to not getting involved in a conflict, so I had to take a few deep breaths to calm myself down and not do something I would regret later.

"Come on, Alex," I sighed, wrapping my arm around her as we opened the door to leave, "Let's get out of here."

* * *

By the time Carver rejoined our group and we all finished at the Suit Kiosk, however, Isaac still remained quiet, even as we headed for the airlock to go back out into space.

"Everything okay?" I asked, though I had a feeling things weren't all right in the slightest.

"Yeah," Isaac insisted, "Let's just get to the _Terra Nova_ and find this shuttle."

"That means no more asking questions, Stamford," Carver said as Alex turned the crank.

"Very funny," I mumbled, stepping back as the airlock opened, exposing us to the airless environment once again as we stepped outside. Debris from the other ships floated all around us, as did oxygen tanks, which we used to our advantage as we began our next space flight. In the distance was a small vehicle mounted on a platform, which had to be the Skip the others found before. That would definitely be a better way to get around than by space walking.

En route to the Skip, I suddenly heard my RIG go off, though the voice on the other end wasn't familiar at all. It sounded broken, but eventually began looping as it became clear again. "_Transmission begin,_" it said, "_Papa Sierra…Papa Sierra…_"

Papa Sierra?

"_Do you guys hear this?_" Isaac spoke up over the message, "_My RIG is picking up some kind of looping message_."

"_So is mine,_" Alex confirmed, "_Timmy? Carver?_"

"Yeah, mine, too," I said, "Who's Papa Sierra?"

"_It sounds encrypted_," Santos answered, "_It's coming from the research vessel, CMS Greely. This could be really important_."

"_If we get a chance, we'll check into it, Santos,_" Isaac promised her, "_Isaac out._"

After a few more minutes, we made it to the Skip itself. The cabin itself appeared to be a little cramped, but since the trip wouldn't be that long, I didn't mind squeezing together for a few minutes. Isaac and Carver climbed in the front while Alex and I moved to the back, scanning the different ships we could go to: the _CMS Terra Nova_, the _CMS Greely, _and the _CMS Brusilov_.

Although we had to get to the _Terra Nova_, I saw Isaac select the _Greely _instead, and I settled back as the Skip made its way over to the dilapidated ship. Maybe decrypting that Papa Sierra message would give us some sort of clue as to what exactly we needed to do once we got to Tau Volantis.

Eventually, we made it to the _Greely_, but just as we disembarked, Carver suddenly stopped in his tracks, about-facing until he was facing the direction the _Brusilov _was in. "_What the hell?_" he muttered.

"What's wrong, Carver?" I asked. He ignored me, continuing to stare at the other ship as if he saw something there. When I peered over his shoulder, though, I didn't see anything.

"_Nothing,_" the soldier replied, "_Go into the Greely without me. I just…I need to take the Skip over to the Brusilov_."

"_Why?_" Isaac questioned, "_What's going on?_"

"_I just want to look around, okay?_" Without waiting for a response from the rest of us, he climbed back into the maintenance craft and shut the door.

"_I'm going with him,_" Isaac said to us, "_What about you two?_"

I hesitated, glancing at Alex before replying, "Well…we could stay and check out the _Greely_. You know, to try and figure out what that message is. Maybe that would save some time. It's like Alex said a while ago: there's no sense in all of us going and possibly getting killed."

"_Are you sure?_" Isaac asked, "_Remember what I said earlier?_"

"_We'll be fine, Isaac,_" Alex answered, "_We'll look out for each other. Plus, we can stay in contact over the radio._"

Isaac took out his Plasma Cutter, and after thinking it over for a few more seconds, he finally nodded. "_All right. But both of you, be careful._"

"We will," I assured him, "That goes for you and Carver, too." We stepped back and watched him climb back into the Skip, he and Carver selecting the _Brusilov _and taking off towards that ship. After a few minutes, they became nothing more than a speck in the distance, and the two of us turned to go inside the _Greely _so that we wouldn't run out of air. After turning the crank on the second door up ahead, we finally made our way into the ship itself, which was silent except for a quiet creaking noise that echoed all around us.

"Santos, it's Alex," Alex piped up into her RIG, "Isaac and Carver went to go explore the _CMS Brusilov_, so Timmy and I decided to help you try and figure out that message. We just made it inside the _Greely _now."

"_All right,_" Santos replied, "_I still haven't been able to make heads or tails of it. Do either of you know anything about cryptography?_"

"Not really," I answered, "What about you, Alex?"

"Sorry, no," she apologized, shrugging.

"_It's all right if you don't,_" Santos assured us, "_You two just worry about finding the source of the transmission, and I'll take care of the rest. With any luck, we can try and decrypt it._"

"I hope so," I said, "We'll let you know what we find." I hung up, gesturing to Alex as I led her down the ladder in the center of the room. While we climbed down, I thought about how friendly Santos had been so far. Maybe helping her decrypt Papa Sierra's message would help give me a reason to fully trust her. Alex seemed to warm up to her pretty quickly, and she _was _a part of Ellie's team, so maybe she really didn't have an ulterior motive for playing her part in this mission. _That's a whole lot of maybes, _I thought, shaking my head as I waited for Alex to rejoin me.

"_Timmy!_"

I jumped as I suddenly heard a man's voice call out my name, and I looked around wildly as I realized it sounded awfully close. _What the hell was that? _I thought.

"Alex?" I asked, "Did you hear that just now?"

"Hear what?" she asked, confused.

"Someone just shouted my name. A man! I don't recognize the voice, though, but I still heard it."

Even though Alex's helmet was raised, I could tell she was probably giving me the world's most skeptical expression. "You couldn't have," she said, "Nobody else is here but us."

And that was what scared me the most.

"_Over here!_" the same voice cried, and when I looked over to my left, I gasped as I thought I saw a ghostly image of a man, if the voice was anything to go by. The face was difficult to identify except for a pair of grayed out eyes, but whoever it was seemed to be dead set on getting my attention.

"What are you looking at?" I heard Alex ask, but I continued to stare at the image, squinting my eyes to see if I could at least _try _and figure out who it was, but nothing was registering in my mind. From the way she was asking me all these questions, I quickly realized that maybe this was in my head, just like the way Mercer had tormented me on the _Sprawl_. _Damn it, no! _I thought, _Not now!_

"Nothing more than the Marker trying to play a trick on me," I declared, "Let's go."

"_Wait!_" the voice cried as I grabbed Alex's hand and led her even further into the _Greely, _"_Timmy, come back! I need to talk to you!_"

"Whoever you are, stay the _hell _out of my mind!" I snapped, whirling around and pointing at the indiscernible image, "And don't even _think _about trying to contact me, Isaac, or anyone else in our group again!"

"_Damn it, Timmy! Listen to me! I'm-_"

Suddenly, a vent burst open to our right, and Alex screamed as she leaped out of the way of an Exploder. She scrambled to her feet before taking her shotgun out and shooting the yellow bulb attached to its arm, taking it and several other Necromorphs just like it out. A Slasher popped out of the same vent next, and I turned my Line Gun towards it as I aimed for the legs and then the arms to kill it. Once the firefight died down, both of us took deep breaths as we reloaded our weapons and rested against the wall.

"Shit," I cursed under my breath, "Are you okay?"

Alex nodded vigorously. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm all right. What about you? The blast from all the Exploders didn't get you, did it?"

"No. Jesus, that was close. I thought we were goners for sure."

"Tell me about it. Who were you talking to before, though?"

My stomach turned as I thought about the supernatural image I had just seen. "I don't know," I answered, "And I don't care. The Marker already messed with me and Isaac on the _Sprawl_, and I'm _not _letting that happen again." I turned away from her and studied the doors leading to different rooms, which were all orange from being locked.

"Come on. It looks like the power's down almost everywhere. Let's see if we can find a way to open some of these doors."

And with that, we took off down another hallway to our right, hoping for the best, and fearing the worst, with me hoping I wouldn't get another visit from anything that looked like a ghost.

* * *

_In the back of the Skip, Isaac just sat in silence as he tried to figure out why Carver was so gung ho on going to the Brusilov all of a sudden. He knew there was probably something about their situation there that could possibly help them, but the way the soldier had been acting was off. _

_ As the Skip finally pulled into the dock by the Brusilov, Isaac peered over Carver's shoulder as he took in the view of Tau Volantis outside. He didn't know what to expect from this mission after rescuing Ellie and her team, but it definitely wasn't this. While he initially had reservations about jumping back into Marker Chasing, he figured now that he was here, he would at least try and do all he could to help, especially for Ellie. Regardless of who she was with now, he realized that deep down, he was still very much in love with her. And even though Norton's comments from before definitely left him incensed, he decided he was going to ignore them for the time being. He had dealt with far worse people than the Captain, and by now, he was used to being badgered and threatened. _

_ "What the hell?" he heard Carver whisper from the front seat as he opened the door to the Skip and climbed out. Isaac quickly followed him, growing increasingly concerned as it dawned on him that the soldier might have been either seeing or hearing things in his head. Perhaps that was why he had led both of them to the Brusilov in the first place. _

_ "Everything all right?" Isaac asked. _

_ Carver nodded. "_Yeah,_" he said, "_Let's see if we can get inside that ship, though._" He watched as the engineer cautiously propelled himself towards the door, and then he glanced around again, reflecting on the voice he had heard all the way from the Greely. For a second, it sounded a lot like…like his son, and he didn't know what to make of it. _

_ "_Dad?" _Dylan had called out to him, "_Where are you? Dad, I'm scared! Dad? Dad!_" _

_ That wasn't possible. Danik had killed him, along with his wife, back on Uxor. Carver had been there when he had to…put them out of their misery, so to speak, so how was he hearing Dylan right now? _

_ Eventually, he and Isaac made it inside, though these halls were no better than outer space. In fact, they turned out to be exactly the same as the environment outside. "Hey," Carver piped up over the RIG, "We're not getting any air." _

_ "_Damn it," _Isaac cursed, "_Life support must be offline. You sure this is a good idea?"

_Carver scoffed. "How long can you hold your breath?" _

_ "_Okay, fine," _Isaac replied, rolling his eyes even though Carver couldn't see it, _"If we can find the life support system, maybe we can get the air flowing again. Look for oxygen tanks in the meantime."_ He hung up, and Carver took the lead this time, guiding them to the level below as they tried to find a way to get air for themselves. Along the way, they found that more of those Wasters were all over the ship, staggering towards them to try and kill them as the two of them worked together to take care of all the monsters. Carver didn't have nearly as much experience in Necromorph combat as Isaac did, but he was continuing to quickly learn how to handle the undead creatures as he aimed for the limbs. _

_ Neither of them spoke to each other, only focusing on the mission as they traveled quickly through the next few hallways and even onto an elevator. They had managed to find an oxygen tank along the way, but they knew they couldn't rely on that forever. As much as he couldn't stand Stamford so far, Carver hoped that he and Alex at least had air on the Greely. _

_ At long last, the two of them found the control panel for life support after climbing down yet another ladder. "Looks like we have to hack into this thing," Carver said, "Want to do the honors?" _

"Guess I will," _Isaac muttered as he went to rewire the whole contraption. While he did that, more Wasters appeared, and Carver used Kinesis in order to toss some explosive canisters at them. While he did that, he heard the sound of his RIG going off, as well as yet another very familiar voice. _

"Why did you kill us?" _it demanded, and Carver froze where he was, ignoring the fact that Isaac had successfully brought life support back online, air whooshing into the room and returning sound to the environment. _

_ "Damara?" he whispered under his breath just as he heard someone else trying to contact them. _

"Isaac, Carver, it's Timmy," _Stamford spoke up from his end, "_How are things going over there?"

"_Fine_," _Isaac reported, _"_We didn't have any air here, so we managed to turn on the life support. What about you and Alex? Did you two and Santos manage to figure out that message yet?_"

"No. But we're currently trying to get power back so that we can unlock a lot of these doors. We'll let you know if we find anything."

_"Okay, we'll do the same if we find anything here. Isaac out." He stepped away from the control panel as he faced Carver, who was still locked in a trance after he had heard his wife and son's voices once again. _

_ "There it is again!" he cried, "It's coming from somewhere in this ship!" _

_ "What are you talking about?" Isaac asked. _

_ "The transmission!" Carver yelled impatiently, "Don't you hear it?" _

_ Isaac paused for a few seconds before replying, "I'm not picking up anything. Can you home in on it?" _

_ "Yeah. I'm adjusting our waypoints. Come on!" _

_ And with that in mind, the two of them continued to venture further into the Brusilov, with Isaac wondering the entire time what transmission Carver could have possibly been picking up. _


	8. Chapter Seven: Pulling Strings

Okay! Here we go with the next chapter of "Journey into Darkness"! Thanks again to everyone who's been reading, reviewing, favoriting, and alerting! I really appreciate it and it means a lot to me that everyone's been so supportive of this story. With that in mind, onto the next chapter! :D

**DISCLAIMER: **Only my OCs, plot ideas, and changes from the original game are mine. Everything else belongs to Visceral Games/EA.

**Bold- **Alex's POV

* * *

_"So, I know all about your history with Ellie," Carver said, breaking the silence after he and Isaac climbed into an elevator up ahead, "What about Stamford? How the hell did that kid end up being part of your group?" He figured that maybe it would be a good idea to break the ice while they continued to explore the ship until they got to their destination. Plus, he was also genuinely curious. Isaac and Stamford were such an unlikely team that it was hard to see how they might have met in the first place. _

_ "I met Timmy on the Ishimura," Isaac explained as he reloaded his weapon, "A Necromorph was trying to kill him, so I saved him, and then we started working together to try and escape. I didn't like him at all when I first met him, though. He was really full of himself, disrespectful to me and the rest of my team, and didn't seem to take anything seriously. I had to call him out on it a couple of times when it got really out of hand." _

_ Carver shook his head. "Well, there's a shock," he quipped sarcastically. If he was being honest with himself, he had to admit he wasn't at all surprised to hear that Stamford had been an outright asshole in the beginning. _

Sounds familiar, _he thought to himself as Damara and Dylan's faces flashed before his eyes for a second. _

_ "So what changed?" the soldier asked before he could dwell on his family any longer, "Obviously, you guys seem to get along now."_

_ "Timmy did," Isaac answered, "He cleaned up his attitude after we left the Ishimura. He still has his moments here and there, but nowhere near as bad as back then." _

_ Carver nodded, even though he really couldn't picture Timmy Stamford actually being nice. To him, it was about as likely as being able to breathe in a vacuum, but there was no denying that the kid's overall personality reminded him of…himself. _

_ And with things the way they were, he hated that. _

_ "What about Adams?" he asked as the elevator doors opened. _

_ Before Isaac could answer, they heard the familiar sound of more Wasters crawling through the vents, and they whipped out their guns as they waited for them to make an appearance. Once they did, they opened fire, aiming for the limbs once again as the Necromorphs fell one by one. At first, it seemed like the wave of enemies was never going to end, and both men were almost out of ammo by the time the next batch were taken care of. After reloading their weapons, they picked up whatever supplies were lying around and continued on their way, eventually making it to another Electrical Engineering Interface they had to hack in order to open the door next to them. Even those this was not his area of expertise, Carver still didn't have too many issues helping him break through so that they could lift the lockdown. _

_ "Anyway," Isaac answered in response to Carver's question before they were attacked, "Now that we're not under attack anymore, Timmy and I met Alex on the Sprawl. She was an intern at the hospital where I was kept for three years, and she wound up tagging along with us when the outbreak happened. We didn't know she was a Unitologist until we got to the Church, and we found out she was helping them. After EarthGov almost killed all of us, she eventually joined our group again and apologized for everything. I still don't know how Timmy was able to eventually forgive her, but I guess it doesn't matter at this point. She's been trying to make amends for what happened on Titan Station and seems to really hate the Church now, so I guess she's all right."_

_ "That would explain why she wants to throw herself into all these dangerous situations," Carver mumbled as they finally managed to unlock the door. They were surprised to find that it was spacious, and the Marker statue in the middle reminded them of Serrano's videos from before, when he had mentioned something about trying to replicate those artifacts. There was also a large box in the corner, and Isaac wondered what was inside it. Hopefully, it was more supplies so that they wouldn't run out again. _

_ Carver, on the other hand, was focused on something else entirely as he lowered his helmet: a toy soldier standing right at the base of the Marker. Its face was distorted, twisted into an eerie grin as his son's voice echoed in his mind for a third time. _"Dad? Where are you?" _it asked, sounding even more frantic than it had outside the Brusilov. Carver frowned, but approached the soldier anyway, wondering again why he was seeing all this. _

_ "Dylan?" he whispered, but just as he was getting ready to kneel down in front of the toy, he felt Isaac grab him roughly by the shoulder. _

_ "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, hey!" the engineer yelled, "Carver!" He shook his shoulder, and Carver turned his gaze away from the soldier as he faced Isaac. _

_ "What the hell are you doing?" Isaac asked sharply, "Stay away from it!" _

_ Carver couldn't understand why Isaac was getting so worked up over this. It was just a toy soldier. Nothing wrong with that, right? It just didn't make any sense to him. _

_ "It's okay," Carver assured him, "I know this. I've got this." He knelt down and gently picked up the toy, holding it in his hands as he thought about the fact that his son wanted to be just like him when he grew up. Damara had always thought it was great that Dylan wanted to follow in his father's footsteps, but Carver never wanted that for him. And now he knew why. _

_ "Why did you do it?" another harsh voice whispered, a sharp pain forming in Carver's head as he jumped back and dropped the toy soldier, watching as it smashed into tiny pieces on the ground. _

"_Oh, no," he muttered as the Marker in front of him glowed a bright, red color, pulsing until another flash of orange light made it all disappear. Again, he felt Isaac grab him by the shoulder to steady him just as an army of Wasters burst through a vent in the corner of the room. Carver raised a hand up to his forehead, clutching it as he tried to make the pain go away. Once he managed to get his bearings straight again, he raised his weapon and began to help take out the Necromorphs swarming all around him. He dodged out of the way of one of the Wasters, slicing its legs before concentrating on the rest of its body. _

_ On the other side of the room, Isaac reloaded his Plasma Cutter as he finished dismembering a Slasher, and while he turned his attention to the next Necromorph trying to attack him, he thought about Carver's strange behavior from a few minutes ago. To him, the soldier hadn't picked up anything, even though his hands looked like he was holding something in them, and Isaac briefly wondered if that was how he always looked to Timmy, Ellie, and Alex whenever he was having his own hallucinations. He hadn't really given it much thought in the past, but now that he knew exactly what was happening to Carver, he could see why Timmy had gotten so bent out of shape back on the Ishimura. _

_ "Isaac," he heard Carver address him, "I think that's the last of them." _

_ "Yeah," Isaac sighed in relief as the two of them went to unlock the box in the corner, "Are you okay, though? What did you see before?" _

_ Carver didn't answer at first, a tight-lipped frown forming on his face. Here was his chance to confide in somebody else about the ugly details of his past, and to admit out loud the fact that the memories of his wife and son still plagued him after all this time. Here was his chance to confront what he had been trying to run away from ever since leaving Uxor. _

_ "It doesn't matter," the soldier replied, deciding that he wasn't ready to share those details with someone he barely knew, "Let's just take these supplies and get out of here." _

_ "Okay," Isaac responded in a dubious tone of voice as he healed himself with a medium med pack, "We should go make sure Timmy and Alex are all right on the Greely." _

_ Carver grabbed some more ammo and stuffed it in his pocket as he shook his head. "Honestly, I'm sure they're fine. There's no need to worry about them." _

_Right after he said that, Isaac looked away as he had a flashback to Tiedemann shooting Timmy with a Javelin Gun and Stross preparing to stab Ellie's eye with a screwdriver. He wasn't ready to admit it to Carver, but both of those incidents were a major part of the reason why he originally quit Marker Chasing altogether, and why he had tried so hard to dissuade Ellie from leaving New Horizons. The last thing he wanted was to lose the only people who genuinely cared about him, especially the woman he loved, and even though he wasn't as close with Alex, he didn't want anything to happen to her, either. _

"_Well, we have to bring the Skip back there, anyway," he said, "Or else they'll be stranded. So let's get out of here." _

* * *

"_…I told you! I don't know_!" a voice cried from an audio log nearby after Alex and I managed to release the lockdown from the radio room a little while later after restoring power to the ship.

"_Dr. Barton, someone is broadcasting a coded message planetside!_" someone else shouted, "_Who are you trying to contact? Dr. Serrano? Tell me!_" The other man screamed, and a shiver went down my spine.

"Oh, God," Alex whispered as she covered her mouth in shock.

"_Stop!_" Dr. Barton yelled, "_Please, they wouldn't tell me. I don't know!_"

"_Commander, this is Unit Three. They've barricaded themselves in with the broadcasting equipment._"

"_If that's where they want to die, let them,_" the Commander ordered in a frighteningly calm voice, "_Cut the ship's power. It'll kill their life support and cripple the transmission._"

"_What about the others?_"

"_You know the orders: no one lives._"

"_Understood._" The last thing we heard before moving on was more screaming in the background, and as soon as the door shut behind us, we took a brief break as we glanced at each other.

"Shit," I cursed under my breath, "That would explain the coffins and the blood stains."

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

I quickly told her about what Isaac, Carver, and I had seen back on the _Roanoke_ as we were trying to find a way to get the power back on. "Carver said the blood stains were head height and thought that meant they were from executions," I said, "I wonder if these same orders were passed on to the other ships."

"But why would they give the orders for executions?" Alex questioned, "What could have possibly happened to make them want to kill everybody else?"

"I don't think I want to know. But this message might give us an answer. Come on!"

Reloading our weapons, we passed through the next room quickly, and after dispatching a couple of Lurkers crawling on the walls, we hurried over to the elevator in the corner, picking up some more supplies on the way. We hadn't heard much from Isaac and Carver since we restored the _Greely's _power, and I wondered if they were having any luck with whatever it was that Carver wanted to investigate.

At one point, after Alex finished taking out a Slasher, I suddenly heard a faint rumbling out of nowhere. "What was that?" I whispered, stopping in my tracks as I held a hand out to stop Alex from going ahead. She frowned, stepped back a little bit, and looked around as she poked the plating beneath our feet with one of her boots.

"It sounded like it came from here," she said, pointing at the floor, "We should probably keep moving, though, or else Santos will wonder what the hell happened to us."

"And Isaac, too." Alex nodded, and I followed her as she opened the next door up ahead. Luckily, there was a Bench in this hallway, so after checking to make sure there were no Necromorphs around, we hurried over to the work station and began to restock on supplies, as well as make some adjustments to our weapons.

"_Alex! Timmy!_" we heard Santos address us from her end, "_How's your progress?_"

"Almost there, Santos," Alex reported.

I didn't hear whatever Santos' reply was, for just as I was getting ready to craft some more ammo, I suddenly felt something cold grab my wrist. I yelped in surprise, jumping back and raising my gun as a shadowy image appeared in front of me, keeping a surprisingly strong grip on my wrist the whole time. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Alex whip her head to face me, though if she said something, I didn't hear it.

"_Timmy_," the same voice from before began, "_I know you don't trust anything to do with the Marker, but you have to listen to me this one time!_"

"Didn't I tell you to stay the fuck away from me and my friends?" I snapped, swiping at it as I saw Alex jump back in shock, "Just leave me alone!"

"_I'm not going anywhere until you hear what I have to say!_" the voice yelled in a surprisingly brusque manner, "_And I can't properly talk to you if you keep shutting me out! Don't you want to know who I am_?"

I hated to admit it, but…there was a very small part of me that _was_ a little curious as to who this mystery ghost was supposed to be. But it was too risky between what we knew about the Markers already and our previous experiences with those artifacts.

"No," I answered, "I don't give a shit about you or whatever false information you have, and if you think I don't know what your game is by now, you are sadly mistaken. I am _not_ the Marker's puppet, and neither is Isaac, so don't try to mess with him again, either."

"Timmy!" I heard Alex shout as she grabbed my shoulder and yanked me backwards, "Hey! _Hey!_ Snap out of it!"

I blinked and shook my head, facing away from the Bench as I just glanced at Alex, removing my helmet as she did the same. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the image flash a couple of times before disappearing for good and allowing me to face reality again.

"_Is everything all right?_" Santos asked worriedly from her end, "_What's going on?_"

I took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself down as I leaned against Alex to steady myself. "Sorry, Santos," I apologized, "I didn't mean to scare you and Alex like that. I…I just got a little sidetracked, that's all." _That's an understatement, _I thought to myself as I sighed.

"_As long as you're okay now,_" Santos said, "_Are you?_"

"I'm fine," I assured her, smiling slightly even though she couldn't see it, "Don't worry about me. Are we close to finding the source yet? I missed what you said to Alex before."

Santos paused, clearly trying to keep the concern out of her voice as she answered, "_Yes. The waypoint leads you into another broadcasting room, but it's a dead end, so this is our last chance to try and find a clue. If you can get in there, we'll be one step closer to decrypting this message._"

"Sounds simple enough," I commented, "All right, Santos, we're going in. Wish us luck."

"_Good luck. Let me know if you find anything._" She hung up, and once I got myself together again, I turned the crank on the door next to us, opening up the path to the next room.

"What happened before?" Alex asked, "What did you see this time?"

I didn't answer at first, only reloading my weapon and raising my helmet again before finally saying, "The same guy from earlier. He actually grabbed my wrist and _demanded _I listen to him this time." I felt another burst of fury at the thought of him trying to force his way into my mind again. I realized I probably sounded like a lunatic to my girlfriend, but I couldn't help it. How else was I going to explain my seemingly random outbursts?

"Jesus," Alex whispered, "Why is this person so desperate to talk to you?"

"Like I said before," I responded, "I don't know, and I don't care."

* * *

We gasped at the sight in front of us as we finally entered the next room: a generator going haywire as arcs of electricity sparked from it, blocking our way to the broadcasting equipment on the other side. And it looked like the only way to get to it was to pass through the contraption in front of us.

On the machine itself was a cover with the Kinesis symbol on it, and after we briefly debated over what to do with it, Alex moved it out of the way and shot the panel behind it, successfully shutting off the electricity. Before we could step forward, however, the rumbling noise from earlier returned, and with a loud _bang_, all the plates on either side of us flared to life, light bursting through the grating and a low humming accompanying it.

"AHH!" we both screamed, jumping back as the plating close to us malfunctioned in the same way.

"Shit," Alex cursed under her breath, "Did we just mess with gravity control?"

"Looks like it," I answered, remembering similar plates Isaac and I had to avoid on both the _Ishimura _and the _Valor_, "I've seen something like this before. Be careful where you step."

And with that, we huddled close together as we made a run for the broadcasting equipment, searching through everything in sight until we finally came across another recording. After turning the crank on the side, the audio log powered itself up as another frantic voice reached our ears.

"_Barton! This is Laura Engstrom! They've started the cleanse order! If we don't warn Serrano, all our work will be destroyed! Did you get the message encrypted? The codes are in my office! You have to hurry! They're on to us!_" The message ended while a compartment next to us slid open, revealing a key that looked like it was meant for Laura Engstrom's office.

"Damn," Alex whispered as I picked up the key and pocketed it, "Cleanse order. Executions. Just what exactly were they doing that they had to resort to this?"

"It's hard to say," I said, "We passed by Miss Engstrom's office earlier, so let's see if we can get in now."

We turned around and hurried back the way we came, running into another Necromorph on the way as we blasted it with both the shotgun and the Line Gun. All around us, more of the gravity plates burst open as the collective humming nearly made us go deaf.

"_Timmy, Alex!_" Santos cried, "_What is that horrible noise?_"

"We messed with the ship's gravity control by accident!" I shouted over the din, "It was the only way to get through to the broadcasting equipment, but we're on our way to Laura Engstrom's office to find the encryption key. She was trying to send some kind of warning down to the planet. To a Dr. Serrano." _The same man that prepared the informational video for the General, _I thought, _Why is his name popping up everywhere all of a sudden?_

Santos seemed to contemplate what we were saying for a minute. "_I wonder what the warning could be about,_" she said, "_But at least we're closer to decoding this message. Send me the decryption key as soon as you find it._"

"Will do," Alex piped up, "Talk to you later." We hung up and continued to carefully make our way back to Miss Engstrom's office. Everywhere we went, random gravity plates burst open, forcing us to begin tiptoeing around to avoid getting caught on them. Along the way, we encountered another group of Necromorphs, some of which stepped onto the plating and shot up to the ceiling with a sickening _thud_. With that, Alex and I glanced at each other in a joint eureka moment.

"That's it!" we cried at the same time, and taking our guns out, we began using the malfunctioning gravity control to our advantage, pushing the Necromorphs back enough until they ended up in the path of the plates. I had forgotten for a second that Isaac and I had done the same thing on the _Ishimura _and _Valor_, but it didn't matter now. Anything that would help us save a little ammo would suffice.

Once all the Necromorphs were taken care of, the two of us hurried back to Laura Engstrom's office, using the key to unlock the door and squeeze our way inside the tiny room.

"Whew," I sighed, wiping my forehead as I took my helmet off for a minute, "We made it, Santos! Just give us a second and we'll send you the decryption key."

Alex quickly found what we were looking for, and with the touch of a button, she downloaded the key to her RIG and then sent it through to Santos. "All right, it's coming your way!" she announced.

"_I see it!_" Santos cried, "_Hold on, I'll apply it to the message._"

And just like before, we heard the sound of something scrambling in the background as the message looped over and over again. "_Papa Sierra…Papa Sierra…Pah-ide Sie-tta…Hhhide Ssetta…_"

"You hear that?" I asked Alex, and she nodded as the message continued to unscramble.

"_Hhide Osetta…Hide Rosetta…Hide Rosetta…Hide Rosetta…_"

"_Hide Rosetta?_" Santos asked, confused, "_Who's she?_"

I wondered the same thing. The only Rosetta that came to mind for me was the Rosetta Stone, but I highly doubted that was what this message was talking about.

"Maybe one of the researchers on Tau Volantis?" Alex guessed, "I guess they didn't want her or her work caught up in the execution."

"_But why issue a cleanse order if it would destroy such an important secret?" _

"Maybe they found something they didn't want anyone else to know about," I suggested, "Or something went horribly wrong."

"_Hmm. It could be anything, really. Thanks for looking into this, you two. It could prove very useful to the mission._"

"No problem," I replied, "We're going to see if we can meet up with Isaac and Carver again. They should be finished on the _Brusilov_ by now."

"_All right. Good luck on the Terra Nova._"

After Santos went offline, Alex and I exited Miss Engstrom's office and climbed up the ladder again, making our way back to the airlock. We were just getting ready to go back out into space when we heard our RIGs go off again.

"_Timmy, Alex, it's Isaac,_" Isaac greeted from his end, "_How's your progress?_"

"We're finished," I reported, "Santos was able to decrypt the message, and we're heading back to the docking area now. What about you guys?"

"_We're on our way back to the Greely with the Skip. Hold on._"

"_See, I told you they'd be fine, Clarke,_" we heard Carver pipe up from their end before they disconnected.

By the time we finally exited the ship a few minutes later, we spotted the tiny maintenance craft slowing down as it pulled into the dock. Once it stopped for good, Alex and I squeezed into the back seat while Carver climbed over us to sit next to Isaac.

"Welcome back," the engineer greeted as he locked the doors, "So how was the _Greely_? What did the message say?"

"Hide Rosetta," Alex reported, lowering her helmet for a second to push some strands of hair out of her eyes.

"Rosetta?" Carver echoed, "Who the fuck is Rosetta?"

We quickly told both of them everything we had discovered as we finished getting settled in, and I could see that Isaac was really deep in thought over all this new information.

"Well at least now we know someone we can look up when we get to the planet," he said, "Her research could be the key to ending all this. Now let's head over to the _Terra Nova_." Before he could press the button to set our next course, Alex raised her helmet again as she leaned forward in her seat.

"I think I'm going to go back to the _Roanoke_, you guys," she said, "So I can tell Ellie and the others what we've found, if they don't know already."

"They probably do," I spoke up, "But you can still go back if you want. At least we know it's safer there than here."

"I'll go with you," Carver volunteered, "In case it's not as safe as Stamford thinks it is."

"Your guess is as good as mine, Sergeant," I replied, folding my arms, "But since we've cleaned out most of the Necromorphs…"

"I'm sure it's fine, Timmy," Alex said reassuringly, "You guys just be careful on the _Terra Nova, _okay?"

* * *

After a few minutes, we made it back to the _Roanoke_, and Alex and I shared a quick kiss before both she and Carver climbed out of the maintenance craft, leaving me and Isaac to continue our short trip over to the last unexplored ship. The ride was silent, so I used that time to check and make sure my weapon was reloaded once again.

At one point, I glanced out the front window over Isaac's shoulder as we passed by another floating pile of debris, and I could have sworn I saw a large chunk of metal that had belonged to the _Eudora_. As Norton's old ship came to mind, I cleared my throat as I leaned back in my seat.

"So, I told you about our trip to the _Greely_," I began, "How about your trek to the _Brusilov_? Anything interesting there?"

In the front seat, Isaac sighed as he glanced over his shoulder at me, stretching his arm across the seat. "Remember how I had hallucinations during the last two outbreaks?" he asked.

I nodded as I had a flashback to Isaac nearly stabbing himself with a needle in the Church of Unitology.

"The whole time we were on the _Brusilov_, it looked like Carver was seeing something I couldn't," the engineer continued, "I don't know what he thought he was looking at, but he acted like he was picking something up in his hands."

My stomach sank as he explained all this to me, although it was almost scary how we were able to talk about hallucinations like we were talking about the weather.

"Shit," I cursed, "Did he clue you in on what he might have seen?"

Isaac shook his head. "No, but I think we should keep an eye on him to make sure it doesn't happen again. Or have Alex do it for now, since she's with him. If we try hard enough, we can avoid a repeat of the _Sprawl_."

This was a lot to take in, which only made me think about my own little mysterious visitor from before. To be honest, it seemed awfully convenient that both of us had hallucinated around the same time, plus Isaac's minor episode in the Admiral's quarters.

"Well, then, I guess that could apply to me, too," I said, "Because someone tried to contact me from the Marker back on the _Greely_."

Isaac visibly tensed up in the front seat, but his voice remained calm as he asked, "Who was it?"

"No fucking clue. He tried to tell me, but I shut him out."

With that, the engineer lowered his helmet as he faced me again, a frown crossing his face. "Good. Take it from me, Timmy: you don't want to fall for the Marker's tricks. It's like I told Carver on the way back here: no matter what happens, you have to fight it."

* * *

**As soon as Timmy and Isaac were no more than a speck in the distance**_**, **_**Carver and I turned to head back into the **_**Roanoke**_**, looking for the others so that I could tell them everything that had been uncovered so far. Once we made it inside, I took off my helmet, adjusting my ponytail as best as I could. My legs ached, and I felt a stitch in my side from all the running I had done, but at least we were a few steps closer to uncovering the mystery behind Tau Volantis and the Sovereign Colonies. **

** "Looks like Ellie's finished at the fuse box," Carver commented as we returned to the control room, "And I bet the others are looking for information on that shuttle." **

** "Where are they now?" I asked, hoping it wasn't too far. **

** Carver quickly checked his locator, which pointed back to the cargo dock we had first entered the ship in. "Back the way we came," he announced, "Santos is probably downloading whatever you found to her RIG. Come on." He ran ahead to go back through the bulkhead on the other side of the room, and I quickly followed him so that I wouldn't get left behind. So far, there weren't any signs of Necromorphs in the area, and while we hurried back, I faced the soldier next to me. **

** "So," I began, "How was your trip to the **_**Brusilov**_**?" **

** Carver just sighed, glancing down as he reloaded his weapon. "Don't ask," he grumbled. **

** "I just did," I reminded him, which only seemed to make him more irritated than he already was. **

** "Yeah, well, I don't want to talk about it right now," he insisted, "Okay?" He walked a little further ahead of me before I could say anything else. I initially thought he was just tight-lipped around certain people, but it appeared that he didn't like to talk too much about himself to anyone. Ellie and Norton might have been exceptions, though. **

** "Fine," I said, "But if you change your mind, I'm willing to listen." I doubted he would, but I didn't mind just giving him the offer all the same. **

**Once we passed through the doorway, we spotted Ellie and Buckell crowded around Santos as she typed away on a monitor from her briefcase. Locke continued to keep an eye on Rosen's bandaged leg as we joined up with the rest of the group once again. **

** "Hey, guys," I greeted, waving my hand, "How's it going?" **

** "Pretty good, Alex," Buckell reported, "Santos is looking into the **_**Crozier **_**now. Then we'll decide what to do from there." **

** "I'm just hoping we can get it working again," Ellie added, "I'm confident that with Isaac here, we'll be able to figure out how to fix it. He was always good with that kind of stuff." **

"**And Timmy, too," Santos piped up, not taking her eyes off the monitor, "I don't know what everyone else is talking about, but he seems a lot nicer than I thought he would be. Like when the two of you were helping me on the **_**Greely**_**." **

** I smiled. "He's a nice guy when you get to know him," I told her, "You just have to give him time. Anyway, is there anything Carver and I can do to help here?" **

** "I'll go through these files," Carver offered, pointing to a stack of papers in Santos' briefcase, "Anything to take my mind off…" He trailed off there, and I just tilted my head to the side as I considered him. **

** "Off what?" I asked. **

** "Never mind," Carver muttered, and with that, he moved forward to join the others as I went to go sit on a railing in the corner. While I glanced down at my boots, I couldn't help but think about the revelation that Danik had murdered Carver's family, and just like it had on the **_**Eudora**_**, the news really hit home for me. As I sat where I was, I felt enraged all over again at the memory of Danik nearly killing Isaac, lecturing and striking Timmy, slandering my parents, and the ugly bomb he had dropped about them not too long after. I buried my face into my hands, sighing as I tried to push all that away, but I had to admit the issue with my parents, along with everything else that was happening, was still eating away at me. **

**What the hell did Jacob Danik know about me or my family, anyway? I had never even **_**heard **_**of him until he started destroying all these colonies, as Daina had never mentioned anything about him. And what "special plan" did the Unitologists have for me? Timmy guessed that maybe the Circle leader had only said all that to punish me for leaving the Church, but it was just hard to tell. **

"**Oh, you're back." **

**I glanced up as I spotted Norton standing in front of me, having appeared from behind the airtight box he had cut open earlier. I just rested my hands on the railing as I stared at him. **

"**Yes, Carver and I are back," I replied, "Timmy and Isaac went to go explore the **_**Terra Nova**_**, but you already knew that, I'm sure." **

**Norton didn't react to that, only moving to sit down next to me while he stretched his legs out in front of him. "Santos says you and your boyfriend helped her out on the **_**Greely**_**," he said, "Is that true?" **

**I nodded. **

"**And what do you think about the mission? Do you think we should foolishly risk our lives and go to the planet or repair the shuttle and go home?" **

**At that last question, I couldn't help but laugh bitterly. "Well, that second option's kind of impossible right now, isn't it?" I asked, "Danik released the Marker on New Horizons. There **_**is **_**no home for us anymore." A wave of sadness coursed through me as it occurred to me that the lunar colony was the second home I had lost, after the **_**Sprawl**_**. **

"**Haven Prime is still standing," Norton argued, "That's where Ellie and I lived before we went to Uxor. In a **_**nice **_**apartment, too." **

**I didn't reply at first, his words feeling like a slap that had been aimed at Isaac. No, Earthrise Apartments hadn't been the nicest building to live in, but at least we had a roof over our heads. All of us had been pretty content just being with each other, regardless of the location. "That was all we could afford, Captain," I responded, "And when you're a fugitive from the Church and EarthGov, you're not exactly looking for a place to help you stand out." **

**Norton raised a gloved hand to his chin in thought. "All right, I'll give you that one," he conceded, "But I just told you all that to say that you're wrong. There **_**is **_**still a home to go back to, especially for you, me, Ellie, and Stamford. As much as Stamford irritates the hell out of me, it sounds like you two are pretty serious, from what Ellie's told me." **

"**What's your point, Norton?" I asked. **

**The Captain sighed, looking slightly impatient now. "Look, Adams-I'm just trying to get somebody to see my side of things, that's all. Talking to the others was a bust, so I thought maybe you'd understand. I don't see anything wrong with wanting to make sure my girlfriend is safe, yet she's acting like I released another Marker. If Stamford wanted to protect you, you wouldn't have a problem with that, would you?" **

**I remained silent as I processed everything he was saying. I could completely understand him wanting to look out for Ellie, and I would have thought that was very noble of him had it not been for the conversation Timmy and I had overheard before, plus the way he had been treating both my boyfriend and Isaac so far. Those two things alone made me lose some of my respect for Captain Norton. **

**Then again, who was I to talk? **

**Suddenly, we all heard our RIGs go off, and two very familiar voices on the other end. "**_**All right,**_**" Isaac announced, "**_**We're inside the Terra Nova. Which way to the shuttle?**_**" **

"**Santos, you found the impound records," Buckell spoke up, "What did they say?" **

**Santos quickly typed something on her keyboard as she focused on the screen. "Only that the shuttle was decommissioned," she said, "They were going to part it out." **

"**Great," Norton mumbled sarcastically, "So basically, nobody knows?" **

"_**It's not the end of the world, Norton,**_**" Timmy commented, "**_**We'll find it. Right, Isaac?**_**" At that, Norton frowned as he clenched his fist, clearly trying to keep himself from snapping. **

"_**Of course,**_**" Isaac answered, "**_**There must be more detailed shipping records somewhere. We'll take a look around the ship.**_**" The two of them hung up, and Norton let his hand fall to his side as he shook his head. **

"**No comment," he mumbled to himself as Ellie broke away from the rest of the group and approached the two of us. **

"**You two all right over here?" she asked. **

"**Yeah," I assured her, nodding, "I've been running around so much that my legs were starting to feel tired. I just needed to rest for a minute." **

"**And I was asking her about her and Stamford's mission on the **_**Greely**_**," Norton lied, and I just stared at him. **

"**Yeah, for the first minute," I said in response, but he ignored me as he faced Ellie again. **

"**So, what's going on?" he asked. **

"**We thought that while we waited for the others to bring us more news about the **_**Crozier **_**that you two could help us continue to organize the rest of this research," Ellie explained, "So that it'll be ready when we get to Tau Volantis. Santos has already added everything you and Timmy collected on the **_**Greely**_**, Alex." **

**I stretched my legs and arms out for one last time as I nodded and said, "Sure, I'll help you guys." **

"**Robert?" Ellie turned her gaze to Norton, and I caught the hopeful expression on her face as he noticeably hesitated in giving his answer. It was clear she wanted him to at least become a **_**little**_** involved in the mission. **

"**Yeah, all right," he finally decided after another minute or two, "We'll be right over." With that, Ellie about-faced and returned to the rest of the group, and I got up to follow her when I felt Norton grab my wrist. **

"**Alex." **

**I turned to face him, briefly thinking about how odd it was to not hear him address me by my last name for once. **

"**You still didn't answer my question from before." **

**Right after he said that, I reached down to gently pry his hand off me. It was getting increasingly obvious that it would be a no-win situation for me no matter how I answered his question, and I realized I needed to nip this in the bud as soon as possible. "With all due respect, Captain," I replied as politely as possible, "I don't want to play the devil's advocate in this. I'm sure you feel that you mean well in the long run, but I have my reasons for being on this mission just like everyone else, and I need to see this through to the end." **

**Norton looked away, disappointment etched across his face for a split second before he adopted a neutral expression. He merely shrugged as he got up and holstered his pistol. "Fine," he quipped, "Let's go help Ellie with this research." **

**And with that, I took my seat on the floor in between Carver and Ellie, taking some of the papers from Carver as I began to peruse through them, reading about the various crew members, ships, and their roles in all this. Now that we were uncovering more information about Tau Volantis, I was even more curious about the cleanse order that had been issued. Better yet, what role did Rosetta play in all this? **

**It wasn't even five minutes later when we all suddenly heard our RIGs go off again. "**_**Isaac here**_**," Isaac's voice echoed from his end, "**_**It looks like our shuttle is in the aft section of the ship. I'm updating our locators now**_**." **

"**Just tell me it'll get us to the nearest shipping lane," Norton grumbled. **

"_**If we can get it space worthy again**_**," Isaac replied, ignoring the unenthusiastic tone in the Captain's voice, "**_**Judging from the diagnostic, it's a real piece of shit**_**." **

** "We can get it to work, can't we**_**?**_**" Ellie asked. **

** "We're swimming in a sea of spare parts**_**,**_**" Buckell helpfully explained, "I can get it to fly**_**.**_**" **

** "Yeah," Isaac responded, sounding a little more optimistic than he had before, "We'll make this work." **

** "**_**Cool**_**," I heard Timmy speak up next, "**_**Just let us know if we can somehow send you any of those parts from here, Buckell**_**." **

"**Will do, Timmy. You and Isaac keep your RIGs on so that we can stay in touch**_**.**_**" We heard them sign off, which was my cue to go back to the research in front of me. All the while, I kept an eye on Norton, surprised that he had dropped the discussion so quickly. After the way he had been carrying on before, I had expected him to try a little harder to convince me that he was making some good points. Maybe this meant he finally realized that going home really wasn't an option right now. **

**Or maybe this was only the beginning. **

* * *

The hallways of the _Terra Nova _were dark, but that didn't stop me and Isaac from continuing to make our way through them, picking up the sound of faint scratching against the walls. It had been a while since we faced any Necromorphs, so all we could do was just wait and anticipate the next attack.

Suddenly, something in the corner flickered on out of nowhere, making me jump. "_Star Blaster!_" a robotic voice cried, and I took out my gun and pointed it at a pinball machine that had somehow switched itself on, waiting for it to quiet down before I stepped closer to it.

"Jesus," Isaac whispered, "I haven't seen one of those in ages. I guess they had to have some way to pass time, huh?"

"Got that right," I replied, "Fucking hell, I can't believe I just jumped like that. I'm more scared of a _pinball machine _than Necromorphs." _Maybe I'm not as okay as I thought I was, _I thought to myself as I shook my head. Even back home, I had jumped at different sounds that I had to convince myself weren't really threats.

"Don't beat yourself up over it," Isaac said as we finished collecting more supplies and climbed down the ladder next to us, "Remember that cardboard sun that almost fell on us on the _Sprawl_?"

I remembered exactly what he was talking about: when we had passed through Titan Station's elementary school, we had to climb on the stage in the gymnasium at one point when a sun decoration fell in front of us, scaring the crap out of both of us in the meantime. "Oh, yeah," I said, "But I still hate getting scared over stupid stuff."

After that, we fell silent again, wandering through the next few hallways until we arrived in what looked like a storage room. Crates were haphazardly stacked on top of each other, though it looked like there was a lot of scrap metal around us. Out of nowhere, a faint beeping noise grabbed my attention, and Isaac seemed to notice it, too, for he was suddenly climbing down a ladder to go investigate it. While I was still making my way down, I turned my head for a second to see him picking up a tiny square robot off the ground, dusting it off and examining it as a tiny sensor lit up and began rotating as if it was searching for something.

"Wow," Isaac whispered, "An old Scavenger Bot. This might come in handy."

"A what?" I asked, hopping down from the ladder and moving to stand next to him.

"A Scavenger Bot," Isaac repeated, showing it to me, "It helps collect supplies we might not be able to find on our own. Here, I'll show you."

And with that, we both knelt down to the ground, and I watched as he placed the Scavenger Bot on the floor, allowing it to roll away as it maneuvered around the room, scanning different areas and beeping quietly as it shined a light on the walls around it. It reminded me of the times I had taken trips down to the beach and seen people walking across the sand with metal detectors.

"You can even program them to talk while they're collecting resources," Isaac continued, "But that might give away our position to the Necromorphs."

"Yeah, that's probably not the best feature to install," I commented, "So what happens now? Do we have to wait for it?"

"No," Isaac answered as he stood up straight again, "It'll meet us at the Bench once it's finished."

* * *

By the time we made it to the tram a little while later, we noticed that something seemed to be preventing it from reaching us, no matter how many times we tried pressing the button to call it.

"Damn it," Isaac cursed, "Something's blocking the tram system."

"_Cradle Ops should be nearby,_" Buckell informed us from his end, "_You can see the tracks from there._"

"Got it. Thanks, Buckell."

_He seems surprisingly nice, too, _I thought to myself as we hurried to get to Cradle Ops so that we could take a look at the tracks. Like Santos, he also seemed very eager to help out with the mission, and I figured this was his turn to help us like Santos had on the _Greely. _

"AHHHH!"

_No freakin' way, _I thought as I stopped dead in my tracks, catching the familiar wail that never failed to send a shiver down my spine. "Looks like the Guardians are back, too," Isaac commented as we rounded the corner in time to catch a Mature Guardian situated at the end of the hallway. Tentacles popped out of its stomach as they attached themselves to the wall, along with a sharp blade. Luckily, both of us knew the trick to dealing with these ones at this point, but that didn't mean we suddenly underestimated how dangerous they were.

"Shit," I cursed under my breath, "What's that on the floor?" I glanced down as a group of spider-like Necromorphs crawled over the growth, almost as if the Guardian itself was spitting them out of its stomach.

"Look out!" Isaac cried, but before I could move, the tiny creatures suddenly jumped up and landed on me, causing me to stumble back as they tried chewing through my suit.

"AHH!" I yelped, doing my best to shake them off as I felt their sharp teeth sink into me, and I couldn't help but remember the Swarmers that Pregnants released whenever we accidentally hit them in the stomach. An all too familiar stinging sensation accompanied the various places these new Swarms ended up biting me, though fortunately, I was able to move just enough to get them to let go of me. Another stray Swarm jumped onto the body of someone who must not have been able to make it past the Guardian two hundred years ago. Once Isaac finished dealing with the Necromorph on the wall, he turned his Plasma Cutter to the body next, shooting a few rounds until the Swarm was dead for good. After everything quieted down, we both let out a sigh of relief, though I found my arms were still in pain.

"You okay?" I asked as we climbed into the elevator that the Guardian had been blocking.

"Yeah," Isaac replied, "Are you?"

"Yeah," I echoed, "My arms are stinging, but not as much as before. No doubt it's that damn infection again."

"I guess you're just getting used to it now," Isaac quipped, "I don't know if that's a good thing or not, though."

I sighed, holstering my weapon. "Let's hope it's good."

By the time we stepped out of the elevator, we instantly noticed what was wrong as soon as the bulkhead in front of us opened. In the distance, I thought I spotted the tram, but there was heavy debris on the track as far as we could see.

"Damn it," Isaac muttered to himself, "Looks like someone left cargo on the tracks. Come on! Let's see if we can clear it." With a wave of his hand, he led the way down to a panel that would more than likely help us get rid of everything blocking the tracks. While he went to do that, I suddenly heard a vent burst open, and my heart immediately began to beat faster as I whirled around and took out my gun again. To my left, a Slasher appeared, racing towards us with no intention of stopping.

"Timmy!" he yelled.

"I've got it!" I cried in response, fending off the latest wave of enemies while Isaac continued to get rid of the unwanted cargo, only pausing every now and then to open fire on any Necromorphs that took a swipe at him. After they were all gone, I went to join Isaac as he continued aligning the different cargo pieces, sending them to storage in the mean time.

By the time he got to the last bit of debris, I noticed something was different this time around. "Wait a minute," I spoke up, narrowing my eyes, "What's _that_?"

Isaac followed my finger, where I was pointing at something wiggling back and forth in a crate on the right. Its skin was a pale gray color, but its eyes were bright red and eerily fixated on us while it bared its sharp teeth.

"Shit," the engineer whispered, "Those eyes remind me of the Ubermorph."

I raised an eyebrow, a wave of dread creeping through me for some reason as I echoed, "Ubermorph?"

Isaac shook his head as he finished clearing the cargo. "You weren't there when I faced it on the _Sprawl_, but it was just like the Hunter." He didn't need to explain himself any further as I felt my stomach turn. I remembered exactly how the Hunter was, and it wasn't something I wanted to think about right then and there.

Just as we stepped away from the panel, we heard a faint crashing noise from a few floors below us as a voice announced, "_Warning: Cargo fault in Bay Four. Containment breach detected. Biological anomalies are present. Please use caution._"

Isaac and I just glanced at each other, and I could have sworn he felt the same sinking sensation I did. "Crap," I muttered.

"Let's just go back to the tram," Isaac suggested before I could dwell on the situation any longer, "The sooner we get to the Aft section, the better. I know Ellie probably wants to hear some good news for once."

_Hmm, _I thought as we called the elevator…only to find a Puker waiting for us inside the cabin. Before we could raise our weapons to open fire, however, the doors slammed shut again, taking care of the Necromorph for us.

"Oh God," I muttered to myself as the doors opened again, Isaac using Kinesis to move the Puker out of the way. I could tell he was as apprehensive as I was about climbing into the elevator after what we had just witnessed, but it was the only way out of Cradle Ops.

"All right," Isaac said, "Now, we just have to-"

Suddenly, the doors violently flew open again as the whole cabin shook, a low rumbling noise accompanying the sickening sensation. "What the fuck was that?" I whispered, my voice shaking a little and my heart pounding as the elevator continued to creak.

"I don't know," Isaac replied, "But _don't move_."

I held my breath as I waited for the unnerving silence to be broken, and it took me all my self control not to climb back out of the elevator in a panic. It was probably safer to stay where I was, honestly, since we had no idea when it was going to move or when the doors would close again.

That was the moment I felt my stomach zoom up to my throat as the elevator suddenly plunged downwards, with the doors still open and no intention of slowing down.


End file.
